


blacksmith

by Unda



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-12-18
Updated: 2015-06-22
Packaged: 2017-10-27 12:38:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 44,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/295952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unda/pseuds/Unda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zoro is a blacksmith, Sanji is Sanji.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

They weren’t brothers. Not at all. Zoro was the kid a few roads down who lived in the steel shop, the old man that he had lived with made blades for a living; swords, knives, you name it. The old man wasn’t even Zoro’s father and god knows how he’d ended up there in the first place. And just because Zeff had adopted him and sort of adopted Zoro when his surrogate father died didn’t mean that they had any kind of relationship.

Zoro didn’t live with them, didn’t hang out with them really (although if social services came calling he definitely did). Zoro kept his life going in the steel shop carrying out the same work, you wouldn’t know anything was different except for the fact that after that Zeff spent more time balancing accounts for businesses, both the Baratie’s and the blacksmith’s and their bank balance was a little less healthy.

Zoro was more or less self sufficient but a few times a week he’d eat with them, he stopped trying to pay Zeff for the food after the tenth kick to the head. So that’s how they’d grown up, Zoro would come over, they would fight and argue and have fun. Sometimes they’d just chill with each other, Zoro was a good drinking buddy.

His relationship with Zoro was bizarre, he was his best friend and his worst enemy. There was no one else he fought as hard with but no one else that he could be as honest or genuine with, Zoro just got him like no one else.

And, well… there was another layer to their relationship that was definitely not… brotherly. At least on Sanji’s side anyway. He thought he’d got it under control, but apparently not. He’d walked into Zoro’s steel shop needing some new knives made, no one made them better than Zoro did and one of their scumbag waiters had just ran off with a load and vanished. The shop was locked and empty though but he’d let himself in, Zoro often locked the place up if he was making something, how the man made any money he’d never know.

It’s the clang that first catches his attention, it was a rhythmic clang of metal on metal that makes the cook pause and cock his head to hear it again. He wanders back to Zoro’s workshop where he makes knives with expensive equipment, but Zoro isn’t there.

Cautiously he follows the sound to the back door of the building and pushes it open. Zoro’s got an old fashioned blacksmith area out there with a proper ye-olde furnace and everything. Zoro is… gorgeous. And Sanji is willing to admit, within the privacy of his own head, that Zoro has been gorgeous since he was able to grow facial hair and has just got better as time goes on. Right now he’s shirtless and covered in a sheen of sweat and soot and all Sanji wants to do is to go up to him and touch every bit of him that he can get his hands on. He also desperately wants to have sex with Zoro, which again is a long held desire.

He’s never acted on this desire because well, he hates Zoro, he adores him too and he’s not sure that he can bear for any of that to change even if he would sell one of his kidneys to get a chance to have sex with Zoro consequence free. Usually he manages to keep his shit under control around Zoro but moments like this knock him for six. Zoro glances his way and goes back to viciously hammering the metal, his back muscles moving hypnotically. Sanji tries to shut his mouth and remind himself that it’s not normal to want to lick Zoro.

“Give me a minute!” Zoro yells over the hammering.

Sanji has a few minutes actually to calm down and imagine enough things to get himself under control (someone breaking his fingers, Usopp in a bikini, food poisoning). So when Zoro turns around after throwing the sword in a trough of water his face is a picture of perfectly schooled boredom.

“Got another ren-faire contract, I get to make cool swords all day!” Zoro beams in adorable sooty glee.

“No you don’t, you’ve got to make me a shit tonne of knives.” Sanji corrects and flicks Zeff’s paper list at him.

Zoro’s face falls as he looks at the list. Zoro might enjoy making knives, hell, he’s the best at it, but his passion is in weapons. Regrettably people don’t buy brand new samurai swords all that often so Zoro makes knives for a living mostly.

“You wouldn’t have this problem if you didn’t let the irresponsible shits that you work with touch those knives.” Zoro points out. Sanji hums in agreement because this is something that they’ve both said to Zeff before but Zeff trusts people too much and wants everyone to have the best tools to cook with, even if they run off with them from time to time.

“I don’t want to make some shitty knives for no reason. Give them your set-” Zoro starts but Sanji cuts him off in a furious yell.

“NO WAY! They’re not having my fucking knives!” Sanji screams just cutting himself short from adding ‘I love those knives’. And he does, they’re his most treasured possession, he sleeps with them under his pillow for goodness sake. Zoro made them for him for Christmas when they were sixteen, each one perfectly individual and suited for its job. All of them are balanced perfectly for Sanji’s grip and use, they fit with him seamlessly and they took Zoro months to make.

“If you stopped fucking interrupting me for once you might hear what I have to say!” Zoro yells back and punches Sanji in the ribs, not hard enough to hurt but hard enough to make his point. Sanji kicks Zoro back hard because he’s never giving up his knives and certainly not for some new wannabe chef to steal.

“AS I WAS SAYING, I’m thinking of starting on a new set for you. I’m not happy with the last one.” Zoro shoots back.

Sanji stills at that and goes pale. He mainly goes pale because all the blood has dropped from his face and is rapidly heading south. The thought of Zoro spending all that time working on something so perfect and so beautiful for him just does things to him. The imagined image of Zoro thinking of him, of his hands, as he works at his best as his craft has been a fantasy of his for years. And okay, yes, he has weird mental porn but it’s irresistible. And the idea that Zoro might be doing that again, might have started already, oh boy. But still- Zoro’s said that he’s thinking about making new knives for him before and not done it, and Sanji will be damned if he’s parting with his ever.

“I can’t cut with what you think you’re going to make, only what I have. And they’re not having my knives. Over my dead body.” He scowls at Zoro.

“But you won’t be using them.” Zoro frowns back clearly puzzled.

“I am now, and who says that I won’t afterwards?” He insists angrily. Truth be told even if Zoro does make him new knives and he uses those instead he’ll still keep his old ones because Zoro made them and they’re precious.

“You might as well throw them, they’re not good enough. Your new ones will be sharper, stronger, smoother. They need to be perfect, they need to be the best.” Zoro says seriously with that dark look in his eyes. Sanji relents and stomps off because Zoro is useless to talk to when he’s like that. He’s obsessed with making the perfect blade and he beats himself up for every mistake, not that he makes many.

“Make the fucking knives for the wannabes.” He orders and storms off.

Two days later Zoro does turn up at the Baratie with new knives and eats dinner with Sanji and Zeff whilst he’s there. Zoro’s dog tired, he’s probably been doing nothing but make those knives for the last few days. He’s practically falling asleep in his linguine so Sanji allows himself the dirty pleasure of stretching his legs out under the table so his ankles brush Zoro’s. He feels like a bit of a Victorian pervert when he does this but it’s the only non violence related contact he really gets with Zoro so he’ll take what he can get.

Zoro goes off to sleepily do the dishes, the one thing that Zeff will let Zoro do to pay him back for the food and Sanji goes off to jerk off in the shower to thoughts of Zoro. Sanji knows that Zoro will be gone by the time he gets out so he takes his time and bites back the sounds that come from his lips by biting a mark into his shoulder.

The last thing that he expects when he wanders out of the steamy shower room and back into his room in an old t-shirt of Zoro’s that he left at the Baratie once and a pair of boxers is to see Zoro sprawled out on his bed. Sanji must make some sound because Zoro sits up and looks over his shoulder curiously at Sanji before holding one of Sanji’s knives up in explanation.

“I was looking for these, Zeff told me that you keep them in here.” Zoro states with a note of question in his voice.

“I was worried about thieves.” Sanji lies smoothly feeling grateful for all the practice that he put into that lie when he first started sleeping with Zoro’s knives under his pillow.

Zoro seems to take his lie at face value and goes back to examining Sanji’s favourite fish knife. He’s glaring at it which Sanji doesn’t like, Zoro’s so hard on himself, it’s not good for him. He sits down on his bed next to Zoro and for a while just watches Zoro examining the knives.

“How did I ever think these were good enough?!” Zoro finally snaps angrily.

“Stop it.” Sanji warns and rests his head against Zoro’s shoulder with a tired sigh he’s still to buzzed out and happy from coming to put any real venom into his tone.

“Hold this will you?” Zoro asks shoving the fish knife into his hand. Sanji’s hand wraps around his beloved knife with practiced ease, it’s wonderful.

Clearly Zoro doesn’t think so as he snarls and unfurls Sanji’s hand from the knife.

“It doesn’t even fit anymore! Your hand has grown. These knives are so awful! They’re not good enough for you, they’re not good enough for anyone, they’re fucking scrap metal!” Zoro shouts almost hysterically and gets up on his knees ready to hurl the offending knife at the opposite wall. With a desperate yelp Sanji grabs Zoro’s wrist and tackles him to the floor

Sanji squirms up Zoro’s body and rescues his precious knife from Zoro’s grip, he’s got half a mind to stab the fucker for that but he won’t. Zoro lets out a juddering breath against Sanji’s neck that stills him instantly.

“I’m sorry.” Zoro apologises against Sanji’s skin and he has to suppress a shudder of pleasure at that.

“It’s just- you’ve no idea how frustrating this is. They need to be perfect. Otherwise I’ll never-” Zoro trails off with an unhappy whine in his throat.

“Don’t you fucking do that again!” Sanji yells angrily sitting up on Zoro’s legs.

“I love these knives, if you want to make new ones then fine but don’t you dare do that again! You’re lucky I even let you touch them, you’re the only one but me that does.” Sanji declares passionately. He realises from the shocked expression on Zoro’s face that he’s said way way too much. Zoro’s expression changes slightly into something Sanji can’t read.

He forces himself away from Zoro and hurriedly shoves the knife back into its fabric case with the others and shoves the whole thing protectively under his pillow again.

Zoro mutters some apologies and goes home quickly, leaving Sanji alone in his room with his knives. With a sigh Sanji gets into bed and pulls one of his knives out. He examines the blade in the half light of the room, turning it this way and that. Zoro probably didn’t mean what he said about making him new knives, he’s been seized by bouts of anger at his apparent lack of perfection before and Sanji’s not got new knives out of it. Zoro’s mood usually goes away when he makes something else that’s better than before. Still… perhaps he said too much tonight?

 

Zoro hates himself a little, he’s not really one for self depreciation but even he can appreciate that he’s a goddamned mess. He’s always wanted to make the perfect blade, ever since he started, that’s fine. He’s no problem with his drive for perfection or his obsessive nature that helps him get closer to that goal. But when he was sixteen he put so much effort into making a set of knives for Sanji for his Christmas present, he’d felt that they were as close to perfect that he was going to get, and for a long while it was. About a year after that he made a replica samurai sword whose blade was gorgeous, perfectly thin and delicate but strong as hell. It was better than the blades he’d made for Sanji’s knives.

That should have made him happy, he was closer to perfection. But it didn’t. For the longest time he’d adored the thought that his most perfect creation, something that held a piece of his soul in, spent all day in Sanji’s talented hands. But then after that his most perfect creation was something else and it was starting to kill him.

It was stupid really, it wasn’t as if his knives were actually him, or if his soul really was in them but he wanted to think so. He wanted a part of him to be with Sanji all the time because he wouldn’t. He wanted his knives to be close to Sanji in a way that he could never be. Because he was in love with Sanji. The frustrating, adorable, beautiful, graceful, foul-mouthed, ill-tempered, sex-on-legs blonde bombshell that was Sanji. He wanted Sanji like he wanted nothing else. But it was never going to happen. For one Sanji was obviously straighter than Zoro’s best sword and for another they were sort of, maybe, legally speaking, related a little. Not in any icky genetic way, but Sanji’s surrogate father had adopted him too. He’d hurt people before for pointing out that they were sort of brothers but he was well aware that even if Sanji had been into men, and that was a BIG if, Sanji wouldn’t consider him because of Zeff being their adopted father.

So all Zoro could do was to stay with Sanji as his best friend/worst enemy and trust that he at least could have a part of him in Sanji’s hands. He shudders deep down to his bones when he thinks of that, of Sanji’s long lean fingers wrapped tightly around the metal of his knives and working their magic. It had been enough of a fantasy before he’d found out that Sanji slept with his knives, that he let no one else touch them, as if he was a jealous lover or something. Zoro whines in his throat despite himself. He’s being stupid. Sanji most certainly does not think of his knives in the slightly erotic way that Zoro thinks of them and he’s just torturing himself by thinking about it.

Still, he can’t help but see the new knives that he wants to make for Sanji. They’ll be beautiful, just like he is. They’ll be sharp and deadly but with a clear perfection that would leave any sane person breathless, just like Sanji. He knows the specs for them now, they need to be longer and a little broader to accommodate the hands of the man that Sanji has grown into being.

On a whim he pulls out his phone and calls Nami to try to borrow the money from her that he needs for the specialist equipment that the most perfect knives, Sanji deserves the best.

 

Sanji is sprawled on his couch on the solitary upstairs floor of the Baratie that he and Zeff have to themselves watching Nigella Lawson do sexy things with dough on the television whilst idly munching popcorn from the bowl resting on his stomach. Zeff for his part is sat at his desk on the far wall balancing the books for the businesses.

He hears a pleased sigh come from Zeff and sees the files and paperwork for the Baratie shuffled and shut away in their box, content in the knowledge that for this month the Baratie is financially stable. Next Zeff turns to Zoro’s receipts and paperwork for the shop. It’d be an easier job for Zeff if Zoro wasn’t such a horrible bookkeeper, if he had printed invoices for stuff rather than scrawled ones written on napkins. Still, he is meticulous about keeping a record of everything for Zeff, even if it’s a crappy one.

Sanji turns his attention back to Nigella’s ample bosom on the television. However the sound of paper shuffling rather frantically keeps breaking his interest. When Zeff growls out a low ‘what the fuck?’ he sits up and looks at the man.

“What the hell is he doing?!” Zeff snaps angrily at the paperwork.

Interested Sanji stands and makes his way over to Zeff and the desk. For a change there are a lot of printed paper receipts, the kind that you get from companies when you order stuff from them. As well there’s a hefty legal looking document and far more paper than Sanji is used to seeing from Zoro. Zeff is thumbing through the thick looking legal document with a look of mounting horror on his face.

“He got a loan?! From Nami?!” the old man snarls.

“What?” Sanji breathes in shock. Zoro had sworn blind a few years ago when he borrowed a couple of hundred from Nami that he’d never do it again, her interest rates were insane. But this time he’s signed an agreement borrowing about sixty thousand from her. Shortly beneath it is an order for a piece of machinery that seems to cost about the same, it’s some complicated machine that Sanji has no idea what it does.

“Look at all these orders, custom jobs… and the deadlines!” Zeff gasps flicking through the handwritten notes in Zoro’s rough scrawl. Sanji’s eyes bug out in shock, Zoro must be working around the clock to fulfil all of these orders. What the hell is the marimo playing at?

Sanji is already grabbing his coat when Zeff starts telling him to go over to Zoro’s and find out what the hell is going on. Sanji runs to Zoro’s and lets himself in with his own key. He skids into the workshop where all the machines are powered up to go, something Sanji’s never seen before. Worryingly though there is no Zoro visible at any of them and the place is eerily quiet. Sanji looks around and feels a hot flush of panic flash through him when he spots a discarded knife on a bench covered with blood. Running across the floor towards the kitchen are directional drops of blood and there’s a large smear on the doorjamb to the kitchen.

Filled with fear Sanji hurtles across the place and into the kitchen to see Zoro propped up unsteadily over the sink with a tea towel clenched tightly around his hand, it’s red with blood and Zoro looks pale.

“Fucking fuck!” He swears clumsily and launches himself at Zoro, pressing him to the work surface in an entirely different way than he would usually like to do.

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” Zoro groans, his head lolling forward as Sanji pulls the cloth away to see the damage. He half expects Zoro to have lost a goddamned finger from the way that he’s bleeding but Zoro’s actually just cut the webbing between his fingers, a painful and difficult to bandage injury that bleeds like a bitch.

Sanji pulls back, Zoro can’t have lost enough blood to look this terrible but Zoro looks like he’s almost on death’s door. His skin is pale with a greyish tinge and there are dark circles under his bloodshot eyes that make him look like some kind of corpse.

“You do not look fine. What the hell have you done to yourself?” Sanji asks touching Zoro’s pale face with his hand, the stubble there is rough and thick, Zoro hasn’t shaved for some time.

“I’m jus’ busy. It’s just a little cut, my hand slipped. ‘m fine.” Zoro slurs slightly, pulling away from Sanji and sucking his wound whilst he rummages one hand through the first aid kit for bandages.

“When was the last time that you slept?” Sanji questions desperately. Zoro pauses, his reactions are sluggish, and his brow creases with effort.

“What day is it today?” Zoro mumbles, half to himself and half to Sanji as he clumsily paws through the first aid box that Sanji is too distracted to use right now.

“It’s Thursday, Thursday night!” Sanji answers horrified that Zoro doesn’t even know what day it is.

“Then, Monday.” The blacksmith answers and triumphantly fishes out a roll of bandage.

“You’ve not slept since MONDAY?!” Sanji yells angrily and fearfully. Zoro doesn’t acknowledge him but that is answer enough for Sanji.

“That’s it, you’re coming with me. I’m not letting you out of my sight until I feel that you’re okay.” He insists and tugs at Zoro’s arm.

“Go ‘way. I’ve got work to do.” Zoro scowls batting Sanji away with his bleeding hand. Sanji narrows his eyes at the stubborn marimo and weighs up the possible outcomes. After a moment’s consideration he kicks Zoro hard and sharp in the back of the head, dropping him into unconsciousness instantly.

 

Zoro opens his eyes with a groan, his head is throbbing. He glances around the darkened room that he's in which is only dimly lit by the glow of the street lamp from outside. He frowns to himself, this isn't his room, in fact it looks like Sanji's room.

He rolls onto his side and sees the shine of Sanji's golden hair in the half light. The cook is sleeping on an air mattress at the edge of his own bed, which Zoro is for some reason in. He's debating whether or not to wake the cook up when the man's blue eyes slide open sleepily.

"Hey, you're awake." Sanji rumbles, his voice deep with sleep. Zoro tries to ignore the flutter in his gut that Sanji's voice causes.

"My head hurts, what the hell hit me?" Zoro groans rubbing his sore head.

"I did." Sanji yawns and searches blindly with his hand for the clock on the bedside table. Finding it he smacks the top of it illuminating the screen. The little digits read 2:48am SAT.

"Saturday?! It was Thursday before! Hell, I've got shit to do, I've got commissions!" Zoro yelps desperately sitting up and flinging the bed sheets back.

Quick as lighting Sanji's leg swings up, his bare heel connecting to Zoro's sternum and shoving him back down roughly on the bed. Before he can recover Sanji leaps up and lands on his knees on the bed, he catches Zoro's wrists in his hand and jams one knee into Zoro's stomach and presses the other one painfully into the meat of Zoro's thigh.

"Oh no, you're not going ANYWHERE marimo. I saw how sleep deprived and overworked you were, what were you thinking taking on that much work?" Sanji growls down at him. Zoro struggles in his grip but, despite being much lighter than him Sanji has always fought smart and with the way he's pinning Zoro right now he doesn't have much hope of getting Sanji off of him.

"Leave my business out of it! I've got commissions that need making!" he snarls up at the cook, he can already mentally scroll through all of the things that are already overdue and the things that are rapidly becoming that way.

"Relax would you? I found your diary and called everyone, I told them you'd had a health emergency and got them all to agree to put your deadlines back. Also, if anyone asks, you have heart arrhythmia." Sanji says with a cheeky smirk pulling at the edge of his lovely mouth.

Zoro relaxes under Sanji's grip, the cook's lie might have bought him a few days then, he can just start in a few hours then. Seemingly sensing his lack of intent to escape Sanji removes his knees from Zoro's body and sits down on Zoro's stomach instead. His eyes are looking at Zoro's hand, his long fingers run along Zoro's fingers and palm in a gentle stroke. Zoro is thankful for the darkness hiding his reddening cheeks.

"You were so tired that you cut yourself, really badly too. You never cut yourself." Sanji says quietly and runs his fingers along the bandage that has appeared since Sanji knocked him out.

"Well clearly that's not true. It's not a big deal, it was just a tired mistake." Zoro shrugs lifting his hand up so he can see the bandage on his hand.

"We both know how sharp your knives are. What if you'd slipped and cut yourself here?" Sanji asks tapping Zoro's wrist above his veins.

Zoro opens his mouth to protest, to say that it wasn’t possible that he could have done that, but Sanji has a point. Even if he knows that it’s a lot less likely he’s not going to piss the cook off by insulting his intelligence.

“I’ll be more careful.” He promises quietly.

“Why were you even being so careless in the first place? Why did you take out such a big loan from Nami, you swore you wouldn’t borrow so much as a penny from her ever again. What’s so important that it outranks your health and your sleep?” Sanji questions with an unhappy expression.

Zoro huffs a sigh but doesn’t answer. He can’t tell the cook that he bought the equipment to make knives for him, he can’t say that he’s working his ass off to try to repay Nami for the machine before she piles up too much interest on him. He can’t tell the cook that he dreams about the designs for the perfect knives for him almost as much as he dreams of Sanji himself. He knows he’s being stupid again, but that’s what Sanji does to him. It’s not as if he really expects that if he gives Sanji good enough knives the man will mirror his feelings, but, well, he’s dreamt about it before.

“You wouldn’t understand, it’s about perfection.” Zoro says in a half-answer.

Sanji’s expression sours and he climbs off of Zoro and perches on the edge of the bed with his back facing Zoro, his back is a tight line and Zoro worries that he’s offended the cook somehow.

“You’re right, I don’t understand. Just… promise me that you won’t work today? That you’ll rest and relax?” Sanji says giving him a hopeless look.

Zoro promises before he even knows what he’s doing, he can’t say no to Sanji like that. He falls asleep in Sanji’s bed again feeling warm and comforted hearing the cook’s breathing.

 

Sanji is in a bad mood on Sunday. He’s already unhappy because Zoro wouldn’t promise him that he’d drop any of his contracts, even if he did promise to start sleeping again. But mostly he’s in a bad mood today because Patty and Carne have decide to make today “irritate the shit out of Sanji” day. They’ve been dicking around with his equipment, although not his knives (even they know better than that) and they’re winding him up mercilessly about Zoro.

“You shouldn’t say that Zoro and Sanji are brothers, that pisses him off.” Patty says loudly to Carne. Sanji grits his teeth tightly and continues chopping carrots and ignoring the two cooks.

“You know why? It’s because Sanji has the hots for Zoro.” Carne replies equally loudly.

“I do not!” Sanji shouts at them hotly.

“You’re right, I think he does. Have you seen the way that blondie looks as him? He’s all ‘Oh Zoro, ride me like the stallion that you are!’” Patty says in a falsetto that’s supposed to be Sanji. They’re playing the ‘pretend Sanji can’t hear us’ game as well. Sanji grinds his teeth and silently hates the pair of them.

“It doesn’t help that Zoro’s as gay as a lumberjack for him too.” Carne laughs loudly.

“Will you two assholes shut your stupid traps?!” Sanji yells furiously at them.

“Aww, poor Sanji. Are we upsetting you? He seems a little frustrated Patty, maybe it’s cause he’s not got laid in a while.” Carne grins at his buddy.

“Yeah, what’s the matter string bean? Exhausted the town’s supply of blind girls?” Patty asks with faux sympathy as he slams his hand into Sanji’s shoulder in a fake comforting pat.

Sanji feels his knife shaking in his hand with anger and he smartly puts it down before he loses his temper and does something with that knife that he can’t undo. Suddenly a flash of green catches his attention, attuned as he is to spotting Zoro. The marimo is entering the kitchen, his eyes are already on Sanji and flick to Patty and Carne over Sanji’s shoulder with a little scowl. Sanji sees him duck behind a cabinet with a wink in Sanji’s direction.

“At least I’m not a fat meathead like you two.” Sanji snipes back hoping to bait them away from the topic of Zoro whilst the man is present, he really doesn’t need Zoro hearing that.

He ignores Patty and Carne’s mocking about his build/appearance/luck with women as he spies Zoro’s hand snagging a dish towel from the side and dunking it in the sink. Sanji leans just so to the side so that the balled up soaking dish rag flies right into Patty’s face with a loud wet smack without so much as grazing Sanji himself.

Zoro appears fully then, cackling like a madman as Patty picks himself up off of the floor and scowls at the marimo. Sanji can’t help but laugh at the man and makes a halfhearted swipe for them with his foot as the two men scarper muttering angrily.

Zoro stops by Sanji's side and leans down on the counter top with his elbows as his back rests on the edge of the work top. He lazily stretches his legs across the aisle and flashes a grin up at Sanji.

"That never gets old." Zoro snickers. Sanji laughs his agreement to this and counts himself lucky that Zoro didn't show up earlier.

Sanji glances down at Zoro in his lowered position to see the man looking up at him through thick dark lashes, holy shit how had he never noticed those before? He supposes he's never really looked down at Zoro like this before. His mind suddenly conjures up an image of Zoro looking up at him hesitantly through those dark lashes as he kneels before Sanji with one hand on the button to Sanji's jeans before he- Agh! What is wrong with him? This was Zoro for crying out loud, they might not think of each other as brothers but Zoro certainly didn't think this of him. He was being one real sick puppy to keep twisting things in his head like this, none of that would ever happen. He pinches the bridge of his nose and allows himself a moment of pained self pity.

"Are those two annoying enough to give you migraines now?" Zoro asks with a note of concern in his voice.

"Something like that." He mumbles in agreement.

"I guess I don't have to worry about giving you a headache myself then when I tell you that I'm heading back out to work." Zoro says slowly and cautiously.

"What?! You said that you'd take it easy!" Sanji snaps irritably.

"YOU said that. Anyway, I'm not going to work myself to death, I'll sleep and everything. Besides, the earlier I get back to work the less crammed my time will be." Zoro points out reasonably. Sanji scowls at him anyway, he doesn't see what the hell could be so important that Zoro would do this to himself.

"You'd better at least be eating properly." Sanji huffs unhappily and chops a carrot rather more viciously than was necessary.

"I eat just fine mother." Zoro snorts rolling his eyes at him.

"Please, I've seen your fridge. It's full of expired take out and ketchup packets." He retorts irritably. And, okay yeah, it stings a little that Zoro would rather eat crap food than eat at the Baratie for free.

"I'll be good, I swear." Zoro grins at him and saunters out of Sanji's kitchen. Sanji reflects gloomily that if he'd wanted something that shows up when it pleases, eats your food and attacks you when he doesn't want to know you then he could have just got a cat. At least a cat would be cheaper.

Zoro does show up occasionally through the next week, and even though he looks like he's not getting enough sleep it's clear that he's sleeping a little. Sanji suspects that Zoro is probably working at least fifteen hour days, if not more. It's that weekend that Franky nearly scares the life out of Sanji by appearing by the back of the Baratie behind the fence in the dark after the restaurant.

“Hey.” Franky says suddenly from the dark, making Sanji jolt in shock. He’d thought he was alone outside the back of the restaurant.

"Jesus Franky! What're you doing lurking out here?!" Sanji gasps clutching at his chest where his heart is still hammering wildly.

"I wanted to find you." Franky mumbles looking at him weirdly.

"Well I do live here, and we have a front door you know." he points out.

He sees from Franky's hesitant expression that the engineer wasn't certain about seeing Sanji at all, he hadn't decided whether to talk to him or not. It seems him showing up though had made Franky's decision for him.

“What did you want to talk to me about?” Sanji asks curiously, it’s not like Franky to be hesitant to speak his mind. Franky starts abortively a few times before scratching the back of his neck uncomfortably before genuinely speaking.

“Uhm… do you and Zoro- I mean, do you consider Zoro to be your brother?” Franky asks eventually.

“No.” Sanji snorts and puts his cigarette back in his mouth to light it, it had dropped out of his mouth when Franky startled him.

“But Zeff has adopted you both, so technically…” Franky points out slowly.

“Look,” Sanji starts and takes flicks open his lighter, “it’s never been like that with us. Zeff adopted him so that the social wouldn’t take him away when he was capable of looking after himself. He mostly didn’t live with us either, so we’re not brothers.”

Sanji explains and lights his cigarette, taking in a rough but soothing breath of nicotine.

“So… what kind of relationship do you have with him?” Franky asks in a cautious tone.

“What’s with the Zoro quiz?” Sanji frowns but Franky just shrugs and seems to refuse to say anything until Sanji answers his question.

“I don’t know. He’s kind of everything, he drives me nuts, he fights with me all the time and insults me, he’s my closest friend and my nemesis. Is there a word for that? Not that it matters, he doesn’t listen to me anyway. I told him to take it easy with all of this work but he won’t listen to a damn thing that I say.” He huffs in a smoky breath.

“Do you know why he’s doing all of this stuff? What he’s working so hard to make?” Franky asks slowly.

“Hell if I know what the shitty marimo is doing or why he does it.” He says rolling his eyes. He might have known Zoro most of his life but the man was still a mystery to him.

“So answer me Franky, why did you come all the way down here at shitty-time-of-night to ask me dumbass questions about Zoro?” Sanji asks suspiciously and leans on the tall wire fence separating the fenced off back of the restaurant and their dumpsters from passers by.

“It doesn’t matter- just don’t tell Zoro I was here. And… and don’t hurt him okay?” Franky answers quickly before waving goodbye awkwardly and jogging off before Sanji can press him further on his odd answer.

Sanji frowns at the retreating figure and stupid hairline of Franky. What the hell was that all about? If Sanji didn’t know any better it almost sounded like the kind of weird conversation that he’d expect Franky to have with someone Zoro was in love with or something.

Sanji’s cigarette does tumble out of his mouth at that thought. That conversation did sound awfully like that. But surely not? Surely that wasn’t the case? But if not then what was that about? Could… could it possibly be that Zoro reciprocated his bizarre feelings? Maybe… god, maybe he stood a chance at making his fantasies and dreams about Zoro into reality.

No, no, no! He had to stop this. He was just… what was it Robin called it? Projecting. He was just projecting his desires onto Zoro, assuming that Zoro felt for him what he did just because he wanted it to be so. He was being stupid… but still… perhaps it was worth keeping his eye on the man.

 

Zoro was curled up on his sofa working quietly in his technical sketchpad. He had the rough ideas for Sanji’s knives in mind, he knew roughly how big and how heavy they needed to be and he was constrained in design purposes by the function of the knife. Still, there was a lot that you could do within those margins and he really wanted Sanji’s knives to be perfect. He was toying with the idea of looking at Sanji’s current knives to see which parts he used most and tailoring the new ones to accommodate that, he’d have to be subtle about it. He remembers Sanji’s fish knife looking like it had needed more sharpening here and here. He marks the area on the sketched blade and makes a note alongside it.

“You should just tell him you know. It’d be far easier than this.” Franky says to him, gesturing to the workshop and Zoro’s sketchpad.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Zoro says flatly and wishes fervently that Franky would get back to repairing his machine so that he can get back to work.

“You know full well what I’m talking about. If you would just tell Sanji how you felt then maybe you could put the pair of you out of your misery and actually do something about it!” Franky says waggling a wrench in his direction.

“You’re insane, just fix my machine.” Zoro sighs and returns to the previous page in his sketchpad, the paring knife. That one was a little easier.

“You’re the insane one. You’re nearly bankrupting yourself just to write Sanji a love note in steel.” The engineer says in loud exasperation.

"The Blue-head has got a point anaki." Johnny calls from the front of the shop.

"No one asked you!" Zoro snaps irritably.

"Seriously, maybe if you were upfront with him you might get somewhere. How do you know he doesn't like you back?" Franky points out as he slides the replacement part into Zoro's machine.

"I think I know him a little better than that." Zoro grouses miserably. He wishes that Sanji did want him back but he's known Sanji far too long for that to be an option. Sanji was a skirt chaser at the best of times and even if that wasn’t the case the man was usually so unsubtle about, well, everything that Zoro is sure that he would know if Sanji wanted him. No, Sanji was a lost cause romantically speaking.

"If you think it's so hopeless then why all this effort?" Franky frowns not understanding.

"Because it's all I have, and you didn't see his face the last time." Zoro says smiling despite himself.

He remembers it clear as day even now. They were both sixteen and his crush on Sanji was still painfully fresh and it hurt each time Sanji got a girlfriend. He'd selfishly wanted to prove that he could mean more to Sanji than they ever would so he made Sanji the closest to perfect knives that he could manage. He wanted to be a part of the life and passion that Sanji had that those bimbos could never reach.

"One present, that's it?" Sanji had snorted at him. It was Christmas and Zeff and Sanji had both got him several presents each. He'd made Sanji knives and bought Zeff some quality booze off of Shanks.

Sanji had dismissively torn the wrapping paper off of the ill-wrapped package and found the black fabric roll case underneath. Sanji raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him before undoing the knot and flicking the roll open. His dismissive expression fell off of his face in an instant to be replaced by awe. Sanji's long perfect fingers ran along the blades excitedly and he experimentally pulled one free and held it up to the light. A breathless gasp came from Sanji's lips that sounded like an entirely different excitement than the kind associated with presents.

"I think he means that he likes them." Zeff chuckles deeply at them. That seems to snap Sanji free of his trance and he hurls himself at Zoro, wrapping his arms around Zoro's neck and crushing him into a hug.

"I LOVE them!" Sanji exclaimed loudly in Zoro's ear.

"They're really for me?" Sanji had gasped delightedly pulling away and looking at Zoro with sheer JOY in those big blue eyes.

"The wrapping had your name on didn’t it?" he had muttered in embarrassment. Sanji had thanked him about a million times and spent the rest of the day playing with them in delight. It was the happiest that Zoro had ever been or seen Sanji.

"I know what I'm doing, okay? It's worth it, I promise." Zoro grins up at Franky.

"You’ve got it bad man." Franky signs shaking his head.

 

Sanji is walking home in the dark with shopping bags in hand. He wasn't even supposed to be working tonight but Patty, the retard, had forgotten to get all of the ingredients that they needed so Sanji had gone out to get them. His walk didn't need to take him past Zoro's shop but more often than not he detoured so it did.

"I'm worried about him." That was Johnny's voice, Sanji pauses in the dark outside Zoro's shop and listens hidden behind the corner.

"Me too. But there 'ain't nothing we can do." Yosaku sighs and Sanji can hear keys jingle as the two lock up the side door of Zoro's shop. The two of them run the shop part of Zoro's business for him, leaving the man free to make the merchandise and keep his brilliant social skills to himself.

"All this work and money though, just for him? I mean it's just Sanji, is he even going to be grateful for all of this?" Johnny says sulkily.

"Sure he's grateful, the man uses the last knives all the time, and he'll love the new ones too." Yosaku says with a resigned voice.

From his hiding place Sanji's heart rate kicks up like mad. Zoro was really making him new knives? That was what all this was about? Oh god. He bites his lip and shudders happily.

"And the rest? Is he grateful for that?" Johnny prompts, breaking Sanji's glee.

"He's... He's not aware of it Johnny, you can’t be grateful for something that you’re not even aware of.” Yosaku hedges uncomfortably.

“Franky’s right, it’s practically a declaration of undying love in steel and you think that it’s enough for Sanji to miss all of that and just say ‘oh thanks for the nice knives’?!” Johnny snaps.

Sanji’s eyes widen to the size of saucers. He can’t be hearing right, surely? They must be wrong, Zoro isn’t in love with him, he’d know wouldn’t he? But… well, Zoro doesn’t know about how Sanji feels for him so maybe they’re both equally oblivious…

“Shut it, Zoro will gut you if he hears you saying that. And it’s none of our business what the two of them do. Let’s just go home, I’m tired.” Yosaku says dismissively. Grudgingly Johnny says goodbye and the two of them head their separate ways leaving Sanji hyperventilating against the side of Zoro’s building.

Eventually he breaks into a run and then into a sprint. He makes it home in world record time and flings the shopping into the kitchen, trusting someone will catch it. He rushes up the stairs three at a time and almost slams straight into Zeff coming downstairs. Ah, right, he needs an excuse to see Zoro doesn’t he?

“Zeff! Do you need me to take anything to Zoro’s?” Sanji asks trying to repress his excitement but still jiggling on the balls of his feet. Maybe, just maybe, what he’s wanted all this time has been right under his nose waiting for him. He needs to get there and see if his dreams really are coming true!

“Uh, no. What’s got into you?” Zeff frowns at him suspiciously.

“Nothing! Never mind! I’m going out to drink with Zoro, I’ll be back… tomorrow probably!” Sanji grins and sprints past Zeff. Oh god, maybe he could spend the night in Zoro’s bed, preferably naked.

He’s trying to hop out of his grotty work clothes and into the nearest clean thing that he can find when he catches himself.

He’s got to be sensible about this, he’s wanted Zoro since he knew what it was to want someone like that. And Zoro’s not cracked and confessed yet. He needs to play this smart, he needs to make himself absolutely irresistible to Zoro and make it clear that he wants Zoro just as much, if not more.

Shucking off the last of his clothes he gallops into the bathroom and throws himself in the shower determined to make himself as fucking gorgeous as he’s ever looked. He makes sure that his hair is clean and smells good and styles it in the same way that a fluttering lady once told him that it looked like gold silk. He tidies up his goatee ever so slightly and brushes his teeth until they’re positively sparkling white. After that he goes for the big guns and heads to his wardrobe. With no small amount of glee he pulls out what he privately refers to as he lucky jeans or to be more precise, his getting-lucky-jeans.

Now, Sanji’s always respected women, but even he has needs and doesn’t always have time for a girlfriend. So sometimes he’ll go out specifically just to get laid. And when he’s done so and worn these jeans he’s never failed, not once. He’s had numerous offers from women and men alike in these jeans so he needs them tonight.

He shimmies into them and inspects himself in the mirror. They do certainly make his ass look fantastic, he’s well aware that his long strong legs and perfect ass are one of his best features. Hopefully Zoro will agree. He’s torn between choosing something equally tight to wear on top just to show off and wearing something soft and sensual. He eventually springs for a soft long-sleeved white cotton top that temptingly shows off his collarbones. He wants Zoro to be attracted to him but he doesn’t want the man thinking that all Sanji wants is one night. No, he wants far more than that.

After a little more fussing with his hair and ignoring the blatantly suspicious look that Zeff throws him as he saunters out of the Baratie Sanji heads to Zoro’s. He forces himself to walk because he doesn’t want to get all hot and sweaty. Well, not just yet anyway and not alone.

 

Zoro hears the door to the shop unlock and shut again, the small bell chiming quietly.

“I thought I told you two to go home!” He shouts, not looking up from the grinding wheel that he’s sharpening some arrowheads on.

“Hm, wrong person.” Sanji’s voice says with a smirk.

Zoro looks up. Sanji is standing at the entrance to the workshop leaning against the doorframe looking endlessly fuckable. Those jeans never leave anything to the imagination and the rest of him just looks so perfectly made up that Zoro just wants to run his hands all over him and mess him up. That or hold him down and blow him until he screams. Zoro keeps his face stoic and glances causally up at the clock on the wall reminding himself once again that Sanji is not dressed like that for him.

“A bit late for a visit isn’t it? It’s eleven at night.” He comments and goes back to sharpening the arrowhead in his fingers.

“Hm, it’s certainly too late for you to be working. You should be in bed, or out with me, or whatever.” Sanji says slinking over to the grinding wheel, so that his legs are in Zoro’s peripheral vision. Zoro frowns, that sounded almost… no.

“Come out drinking with me.” Sanji insists, touching his shoulder.

Oh, so that’s how it is. Sanji wants someone to stand next to so that he can look better and get the girls. He’s in no mood to watch that, ever.

“I’m far too busy to go out drinking with you and watch you try to sleep with women.” He snaps and deliberately sends a shower of sparks Sanji’s way. The cook quickly darts back and avoids singeing his pretty little self.

“I’m not going to sleep with any women.” Sanji points out irritably.

“I coulda told you that, but it’s never stopped you from trying before.” Zoro smirks toothily up at Sanji and catches the pissed off look on the cook’s face.

“Har-fucking-har shit-face. I don’t want to sleep with any women, just you… and me drinking.” Sanji responds.

Zoro frowns at the arrow-head. He must be sleep deprived or hearing things because it almost sounds like Sanji is shooting innuendos his way. It’s probably just the tiredness and his brain being suggestible from Sanji’s outfit.

“Busy.” He grunts and plinks the arrowhead into the box of finished ones that he’s making for more renaissance faire people. He’s just about to start grinding the next one when the grinding wheel suddenly loses power and spins slowly to a halt.

“Hey!” He snaps glancing up seeing Sanji with a power cord in his hand.

“Oops, was that me? Get your ass up marimo, we’re going out.” Sanji says scowling at him. Zoro stands up and matches Sanji’s scowl with his own, he moves to take the power cord out of Sanji’s hands but the cook stops him with a boot to his chest.

“Zoro, you’ve known me for years. Has arguing with this face ever got you anywhere?” Sanji demands giving Zoro a determined stare.

Privately Zoro will admit that no, arguing with Sanji when he looks like that never gets him anywhere, but he doesn’t have to tell the cook that.

“Fine, but I’m not carrying your lightweight drunk ass home.” Zoro snorts and shoves past the cook to go and change into something not covered in metal shavings.

When he returns a few minutes later Sanji is standing quietly in his shop inspecting the knives that he has for sale. They’re not a patch on Sanji’s old ones, they’re just standard ones that Zoro makes to pay the bills. Still better than that shit you can buy in the supermarket but that’s not hard.

Sanji notices his return and flashes him a kilowatt smile. Zoro feels his suspicion levels rise. Sanji is never this nice to him, not unless he wants something anyway. Still the cook will tell him sooner or later if he wants something, so he might as well go along with it until then.

They leave the building and lock up, it doesn’t take long before an innocent question about Sanji’s day has got Sanji into a lather about everything. Apparently Patty and Carne seem to be going on a piss Sanji off campaign of late and that’s not helped by them being morons so that Sanji has to run around after them fixing their mistakes.

“You know it’s just because they know that you won’t just leave their mistakes alone. If they screw something up you’re gonna fix it for them because you don’t want a customer to have to suffer for it.” Zoro points out to Sanji.

“What would you have me do? I can’t let some poor person get a crappy meal because they can’t be bothered.” Sanji asks with a sigh as he shoulders the door to the bar open and leans on it to hold it open whilst Zoro walks in behind him.

“Well, do what you did tonight. Leave them to it. Then you don’t have to see them screwing up so you’re not responsible. Zeff can chew them out for it and they’ll learn.” Zoro suggests and leans on the bar trying to get the bartender’s attention. The place is relatively empty so there are a number of tables for them to sit at. He and Sanji order and the cook leads him over to a booth, it’s a bit big but it’s quiet. Instead of sitting opposite him like Zoro expected Sanji slides in on the padded bench next to him, close enough that Zoro can feel how warm he is.

“I do live there you know, I can’t just be out all the time.” Sanji points out and takes a slow sip of his pale beer and hums in happiness. This derails Zoro’s thought process for a moment but he catches up before Sanji opens his eyes again.

“Well, if you could be in the building with them whilst they’re screwing up without working to fix it then you wouldn’t have this problem. You work too much.” Zoro points out.

Sanji nearly chokes on his beer at that and barks a loud laugh out at him.

“Looked in a mirror lately, idiot? You’re the one who’s working too hard!” Sanji says loudly.

“Ah, but I choose to work too hard. You don’t seem to be able to choose.” Zoro points out succinctly and grins at the slightly flustered looking cook.

As the evening rolls on a bit Zoro turns in the bench so that his back is against the wall of the booth and his side is to the back of the seat. This way he can watch Sanji talk as the cook laughs his way through a recollection of a hilariously bad lie that Usopp told him the other day. He doesn’t know why Sanji is out with him tonight. They don’t often go drinking together alone, and usually if they do Sanji has abandoned him by this time in the evening to score with some girl. He’s certainly dressed for that but Sanji doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of intending to leave.

“Oops, I’m out.” Sanji says interrupting himself having tried to take a swig from his empty glass.

“You want something else? It’s my round.” Sanji asks gesturing to Zoro’s own glass.

“Hm, rum.” Zoro shrugs and Sanji nods cheerfully and slides from the booth. He watches with interest as fantastic backside sways away from him in those jeans as he makes his way to the bar. Zoro allows himself a self-indulgent little sigh because whilst Zoro is capable of looking and not touching Sanji doesn’t exactly make it easy on him.

Zoro’s eyes sharpen though when a busty brunette notices the same thing that Zoro has noticed. She sidles up to Sanji at the bar and gives him a full red lipglossed smile as she leans on the bar to make her chest spill out of her tight dress a little. Sanji is looking that much is blatantly obvious.

Zoro looks away and scowls at the drinks menu on the table. He knows how this one goes, fuck, he’s probably not even going to get his drink now. He leans over the table to get his coat from the other side, he may as well leave now.

“Oi, you leavin’ me?”

Zoro glances up in shock to see Sanji standing at the edge of their booth with two glasses in hand, a beer for himself and a few measures of rum for him. More to the point he’s alone, no busty brunette in sight.

“No.” Zoro answers quickly and thankfully his fingers land on his phone in his pocket. Pretending that was what he was getting Zoro sits back with it in his hand. He flicks it on under the pretence of checking for missed calls.

“Hm, expecting anyone marimo?” Sanji asks sliding back in next to him in the booth, close enough that their thighs touch from hip to knee.

“Just checking, clients.” Zoro lies and flicks the phone back onto his coat. Sanji grins at him sloppily, half drunk and beautiful as ever. He slides Zoro’s drink across to him and takes a swig of his own.

“Captain Morgan says hello.” Sanji chuckles lightly as Zoro drinks his own drink. Captain Morgan’s rum isn’t Zoro’s favourite but he enjoys it plenty on the odd occasion.

Zoro leans back against the seat happily and spies someone across the bar looking back at him. He glances over and sees the busty brunette glaring at him suspiciously. Zoro realises suddenly that she must think that Sanji turned her down for him. Well, that’s half true, but not in the sense that she thinks. Still… he flashes her a smug grin and carefully slides his arm along the back of the booth, close enough to look like he has his arm around Sanji. Her glare is sharp and jealous now and, feeling satisfied Zoro ignores her and turns his attention back to Sanji.

“Ah, I’m getting drunk.” Sanji laughs to himself, his head falling back onto Zoro’s arm. With a sleepy drunk smile Sanji turns his head so that his cheek is resting on Zoro’s arm and suddenly Sanji is way too close for comfort. He wants to lean in and press his lips to Sanji’s soft pink ones, he wants to tangle his fingers possessively in that shiny blonde hair. He wants to do lots of things that are dangerous and not allowed and the cook’s proximity, the way his body is pressed sidelong against Zoro’s is making that more and more difficult by the second.

“We need to go.” Zoro manages as he slams the last of his rum back and drops the glass on the table.

“Wait, what?” Sanji frowns at him blearily.

“I’ve got work in the morning and I already told you that I’m not carrying your drunk ass home.” Zoro snaps and snags their coats. A rather bemused looking Sanji lets himself be shuffled out of the booth and out of the bar, oblivious to the jealous gaze of the earlier girl.

They walk back to Zoro’s in what Sanji, from his happy little drunk expression, thinks is a companionable silence. Zoro on the other hand is berating himself mercilessly in his head. He has no idea what Sanji was trying to achieve tonight but he shouldn’t have let the man convince him, he needs to be more careful in future.

Sanji grins at him as Zoro opens the side door to his building, Zoro lets himself in and then turns to say goodnight to Sanji. Ordinarily Sanji would already have been wandering off by now with a casual wave and a smirk. Instead Sanji is looking up at him like there’s something that he wants to say.

“So…” Sanji hesitates and bites his bottom lip into his mouth nervously. The cook’s full lower lip slides slowly from between his teeth as he considers what to say. Zoro tries not to stare but it’s pink and tempting and shiny from Sanji’s mouth.

“Night.” He says tensely and shuts the door right in Sanji’s face. There’s only so much his self control can handle.

“OI! Don’t shut the door in my face asshole! Where are your manners?!” Sanji yells at the shut door. Zoro ignores him however and stumbles up to bed cursing the world for making Sanji so very tempting and so very out of his reach.

 

Sanji stomps angrily up his stairs at the Baratie, these jeans have never failed him, never. Not until now that is. He’d been hoping to get Zoro to spill his feelings or to snap and kiss him but despite his best efforts the man remained cool. He even went as far as trying to instigate a little jealousy but that didn’t work, nor did getting up close to the man. And when he thought he’d go for broke and just spit it out the bastard slammed the door in his face!

He’s not sure that he’s ever felt more humiliated!

He stomps past Zeff who is sprawled across the sofa with his peg leg on the coffee table and his head hanging on the back of the sofa staring at the ceiling, the unwatched TV blares in front of him.

“What’s got your knickers in a twist?” Zeff asks gruffly.

“Nothing!” Sanji snaps churlishly, stomping to a halt with his back to Zeff.

“I thought that you were out with Zoro.” The old man says in a voice absent of intonation or insinuation.

“I was.” Sanji answers unhappily. So much for getting his hopes up, Johnny and Yosaku were clearly wrong and he’d clearly misinterpreted what Franky said. The stupid thing was that it hurt. Despite his better judgement he had got his hopes up and now that it was clear that he was wrong it felt like he’d had it all snatched away again.

“You know, that Zoro can be a weird boy sometimes.” Zeff muses, his moustache twitching.

“What?” Sanji sniffs turning around to face Zeff as dry eyed as he can make himself.

“It’s just… you can talk to him sometimes and he seems so apathetic and disinterested in what you’re talking to him about or offering. But I think he’s just like that sometimes, even if he is interested. It’s probably a self confidence thing. If no one thinks he cares then they can’t mock him for caring. Stupid boy.” Zeff says flatly.

Sanji squints at Zeff. Is… is the man saying what Sanji thinks he’s saying? Does he know how he feels about Zoro? Is he genuinely offering him advice about that or does he just think that Zoro was rude to him accidentally? He can never read the crafty old man when he’s like this. And Zeff isn’t giving anything away with the way that he’s watching Sanji, the man has a perfect poker face.

“Thank… you?” Sanji ventures uncertainly. Zeff makes a grunt of approval and leans his head back and closes his eyes again. Weirded out Sanji wanders back to his room.

Sanji honestly has no idea how Zoro feels about him. He keeps a sharp eye on the man and sometimes he thinks that he catches Zoro looking at him as if he might be interested in Sanji, but other times he looks like he couldn’t care less about him. Zoro doesn’t seem to mind him getting close to him, even if he always finds an excuse to distance them sooner or later, he doesn’t think that Zoro is aware that he’s testing the waters which is infuriating in itself.

It’s about three weeks later when a hesitant knock on his door frame ticks him off. He knows without looking that it’s Zoro and not anyone else, he’s memorised the man’s walk.

“You know, knocking on the frame of the door when the door is open is pointless.” He snipes, scowling at the magazine. This does he or doesn’t he business with Zoro has put him in more sour moods lately than he’s used to. Eventually he flings the magazine across the room so it crumples against the far wall and leans up on his elbows to look at Zoro.

The man is standing in the doorway with tension dancing in his jaw. In his hands is a black case, large enough to be a briefcase but its not, it’s just a black box.

“What’s that?” Sanji asks raising an eyebrow. But from overhearing Johnny and Yosaku’s conversation before he can probably guess. He sits up properly then, with anticipation thrumming in his veins.

“Is that a present for me?” He asks hopefully. Zoro’s fingers tighten on the box and drum on the edges of it nervously.

“Yeah.” Zoro says with a tight voice and stays still. He looks like he’s considering running off with it, if they are knives for him then Sanji would bet that Zoro is fighting the urge to run back with them and try to make them better somehow.

“But it’s not my birthday, or Christmas.” He smiles slowly at the man.

“I- yeah. Here.” Zoro walks forward robotically and shoves the box in Sanji’s face with both hands. Carefully Sanji takes it, it feels promisingly very heavy. He places it on the bed before him and glances up at Zoro whose fists are clenching and unclenching nervously, how sweet.

“Sit.” Sanji orders pointing to the foot of his single bed. Stiffly Zoro sits down. Sanji smiles at him but Zoro doesn’t seem to react, he’s clearly too nervous.

Seeing nothing else to do Sanji carefully shimmies the lid to the box off. Underneath is a soft leather cloth, probably to protect the knives. Excitedly he slowly pulls the soft leather back and an excited little squeak escapes his lips at the first shine of metal. No longer able to wait he yanks the cloth back and stares.

Oh god. They’re gorgeous.

Inside is a full set of knives, every one that Sanji might conceivably need in the kitchen, some that he didn’t even have before. Each of the handles is sculpted perfectly to fit into his grip and as he picks one up experimentally he finds that they fit like a dream. It is as if they’re a part of his own body, they mould through the contours of his hand and are weighted just so.

He looks carefully at the handle. Each knife handle is detailed and different with the common theme of waves etched into them, the detail is tiny and painstakingly beautiful and realistic. He turns his attention to the blade of the knife in his hand and can see the tell tale colour differences from Zoro’s diligent old-school style of blade making. He leans back onto his elbows again and examines the blade in the shine of his bedside light.

“It’s so thin and sharp!” He breathes in wonder. Curiously he presses the blade horizontally across his thumbnail and draws the blade ever so lightly across the nail. He sees it sink in effortlessly cutting. He stops before the knife goes through his nail and cuts his whole damn thumb off. Even Zoro’s knives before have never been so sharp, so delicate so… so brilliant.

He runs his fingers carefully over the others, he can tell now that they’ll be the best thing he’s ever had and he can already think of things that he wants to test with them. Johnny’s words come back to him, that these knives were a love letter written in steel. If that’s true then it’s the most beautiful poetic love letter that anyone has ever made.

He finally makes eye contact with Zoro who is looking at him with trepidation.

“Thank you.” He breathes reverently and watches the unease melt off of Zoro’s face to be replaced by a tentative little smile.

“They are absolutely… perfect.” He insists forcefully. He needs Zoro to understand just how he feels about these brilliant creations. Part of him just wants to run downstairs and really take these babies for a ride but… no, there’s something that he wants more. Zoro looks quietly pleased and somewhat satisfied with a modest little blush high on his cheekbones.

Hesitantly Sanji places the knife back in its permanent case and carefully closes the box again. He slides the box gently onto his bedside table and looks carefully at Zoro. The marimo looks a little worried, he probably thinks that if Sanji can just put his knives down like that then there’s something wrong with them.

Sanji kneels up and swallows nervously. He’s got a lot riding on this but he has to know. Filled with nervous hope he puts one hand on Zoro’s shoulder and the other on the bedspread between them as he leans in and kisses Zoro. It’s just a light press of his lips to Zoro’s for a moment but then he moves and runs his tongue across Zoro’s lower lip trying to tease the man’s mouth open. Zoro’s lips however remain embarrassingly immobile. Hesitantly Sanji presses his lips to Zoro’s again hopefully, but the man doesn’t move a muscle. With regret he pulls back to see Zoro staring up at him wide eyed.

“Well,” he mutters to himself, “that answers that- AGH!”

Zoro moves suddenly like a coiled spring let loose, grabbing the back of Sanji’s neck and fiercely mashing their mouths together. There’s an almost painful clack of teeth for a second before Sanji is able to react and genuinely kiss Zoro back. He groans into the kiss, what the hell had Zoro been waiting for back there? Zoro’s hands fist in his hair and the marimo shifts his weight forward until Sanji topples backwards on the bed. He wriggles down the bed under a puzzled looking Zoro and kicks the door to his bedroom shut. He grins up at Zoro, after waiting this long for this he does not want to be interrupted.

Taking advantage of his new position under Zoro he runs his hands up Zoro’s smooth muscled sides and impatiently slides his hands under Zoro’s shirt. An impatient sound rumbles in Zoro’s chest, which is all the warning Sanji gets before Zoro straightens up and yanks his t-shirt off and bends down to start tugging Sanji’s away. Ordinarily Sanji might have been a little annoyed at the presumption but he’d waited for this far too long as it was and he wasn’t going to complain at Zoro’s haste.

With both of them bare chested Sanji pushes himself up on his elbows and arches his back so that their bare chests press together and he can reach up to snag Zoro’s mouth in a kiss. With that they fall back onto the bed together with warring mouths and exploring hands.

Sanji’s mind is running with a million questions. Why me? Why now? Why did you never say anything before? How long have you thought about this? He’s desperate to ask but he feels almost as if speaking might break the spell that they’re under and Zoro will come to his senses. Deciding instead to opt for non-verbal boldness he flicks the button on Zoro’s trousers open and actually feels the damn marimo smile against his mouth.

He shimmies Zoro out of his trousers and assists with a smile as Zoro helps him with his own. They’re both in just their underwear now and Sanji really really can’t believe his luck. He’s a little paralyzed by worry and indecision, what if he does something that Zoro really doesn’t like and changes the man’s mind? It always seems too easy in films and books, no matter how perverted or kinky the desires of people are it seems that when they finally get the person that they want in bed everything magically matches up. Not that he’s got anything massively outrageous that he wants to do to Zoro but some people can be funny about things.

Zoro on the other hand doesn’t seem to have any such doubts as he noses at Sanji’s jaw and bites and kisses a curious trail along Sanji’s skin. Sanji feels himself melt a little because despite being clearly quite eager Zoro is kind of… gentle. He shouldn’t really be surprised, he’s seen Zoro’s gentle side plenty of times, but it’s always been with other people never with him. It’s nice but Sanji doesn’t really have the patience for nice right now, so after a few self indulgent minutes of letting Zoro kiss him he slides up the bed until he’s upright with his back against the wall. He fully intends to shove Zoro back so that he’s got the marimo pinned under him and he can do some well deserved exploring of his own. But then Zoro, who hadn’t moved when Sanji did, looks up at him. His head is just about level with Sanji’s hips and instead of questioning Sanji or letting Sanji tumble him backwards he instead just rolls with it and continues exploring… lower.

Sanji is startled by the groan that slips out of his lips when Zoro peels off his underwear and bites the pales skin between Sanji’s thigh and hip. Nor does he miss the deep chuckle that said groan earns from Zoro, it’s the most noise Zoro’s made so far and certainly a very Zoro-like noise. Zoro curiously licks his way up Sanji’s incredibly hard cock and Sanji starts becoming a little anxious about doing this here in his home at the Baratie. There are two reasons for this, first of all is that he’s always been a very vocal person during sex if not necessarily verbal, the second reason that makes this worse, or possibly better Sanji’s not decided yet, is that Zoro’s expression is very clear on the fact that Zoro clearly considers everything that he’s doing with Sanji to be the best thing ever. The expression on his face when he licks Sanji would lend someone to believe that Sanji is the best tasting thing that Zoro’s ever had in his mouth. And, well, Sanji’s always been susceptible to flattery which is having the effect of making him even louder.

It all seems like far too much far too soon, Zoro’s clever tongue is just pulling him apart at the seams and his hands are curiously touching every place that they can reach, paying special attention to anywhere that draws a particularly vocal reaction out of Sanji. It doesn’t help that this is better than every one of Sanji’s fantasies about this, that the real Zoro is so much more solid and hot that his imaginary counterpart, that he’s so much more intuitive in giving Sanji things he didn’t even knew that he wanted.

“Oh god, Zoro stop.” Sanji exclaims loudly, shoving sharply at Zoro’s shoulder. He really desperately needs this to go on for longer and he really wants to get to touch more of Zoro before he comes. Zoro willingly moves back as far as Sanji shoves and stares at Sanji with big worried eyes. Sanji’s brain isn’t exactly operating at fully speed yet and it takes him a second or two to get his breath back, in that time Zoro’s expression changes from worried to panicked.

“I’m sorry- I…” Zoro stammers starting to back off. Sanji’s eyes widen, Zoro thinks that he’s changed his mind, or that he hadn’t wanted this in the first place. The stupid idiot doesn’t seem to realise that Sanji’s wanted this for years and now he’s trying to LEAVE!

“Don’t you dare!” Sanji snaps, throwing himself at Zoro and wrapping his arms and legs around Zoro’s back, he’s not going to let Zoro think that he’s got the wrong idea here.

“You were just going too fast is all, damn you’re good at that.” He explains further to Zoro who is clearly frozen in confusion against him. Before the marimo can get his wits together again Sanji shoves him backwards so that his head is hanging off of the foot of the bed and quickly divests Zoro of his own underwear and sets about returning the favour.

“God, you’re kind of stupid sometimes.” He mutters before hesitatingly taking Zoro into his mouth.

“You- oh wow- you said stop!” Zoro points out indignantly with a pleased sounding groan.

“Yeah, I said stop, not no.” Sanji retorts with a grin as he pulls up off of Zoro.

“Well it was the only word that I got out of you.” The blacksmith snipes back causing Sanji to flush in embarrassment.

“Yeah I need to learn to be quieter.” He says meekly with still burning cheeks.

“Mmm, don’t.” Zoro smiles softly at him, his hand tangling into the short hair behind Sanji’s ears. He grins broadly up at Zoro before wrapping his mouth around him again with a loud pleased hum. Eventually Zoro tugs him up into kneeling and kisses him. Hesitantly Zoro pulls away and worries at his own lip with his teeth, his hand however is sliding down Sanji’s back and coming to rest on his ass in what can only be described as a grope.

“Do you have any… um…” Zoro mumbles, his fingers fidgeting on Sanji’s cheek nervously.

“Lube?” Sanji questions with an excited note in his voice. Zoro nods quickly.

“Yes, yes I do!” Sanji smiles and lies back so that he can reach up his bed and open his bedside drawer. He’s thankful now that he bought that small bottle of lube, and okay he’d not imagined that this might actually happen when he did buy it but he’d bought it for Zoro. Or rather, to enable his fantasies of Zoro when he got himself off. He rolls over onto his stomach as the cap proves to be significantly harder to get off than he had hoped, probably because of his excitedly trembling fingers.

Zoro strokes a large warm hand down Sanji’s back and along the roundness of his butt and down to the top of his thighs in an almost wistful way.

“Am I dreaming?” He hears Zoro murmur to himself.

“You dream about this?” Sanji asks with a happy smile as he rolls back onto his back and looks up at Zoro. This is more confirmation that Zoro has wanted him all along, if only they’d said something sooner, they’ve both wasted so much time.

“How could I not?” Zoro smiles gently and runs a thumb over Sanji’s abs. Sanji grins like a loon and pulls Zoro down into a kiss, running his hands through Zoro’s hair and enjoying the feel of the green strands between his fingers.

“I do too. Dream about it I mean.” Sanji breathes between kisses.

Zoro pulls back at that and smiles happily at him. Sanji takes the opportunity to offer up the bottle of lube to Zoro who gladly takes it.

What happens next is more about Sanji cataloguing the sensations than any real list of actions. He can feel Zoro’s lips on his ribs and the unusual slickness against his skin that lube has. He feels the pressure of Zoro’s fingers trying to press into him and for a few moments his body resists, until Sanji’s brain catches up and reminds him that this is Zoro and he’s always wanted Zoro. Then his body parts and he can feel Zoro’s clever fingers working inside of him.

He can hear himself whining and moaning at Zoro’s touch, he’s pleading and begging for more because whilst what Zoro is doing is good, oh so good, it’s not enough and he needs more. When Zoro eventually does lean over him and guide himself in Sanji can’t manage to hold back even a little bit of the choked up pleasured sob that it pulls from his throat.

He digs one heel into the bed and the other into the small of Zoro’s back as he pushes himself off the bed to press against Zoro and move against him better. He’s wanted this forever and he’s going to do everything he can to make sure that it’s the best sex that either of them has ever had in their lives. He clings one handed onto Zoro’s neck and finds himself fascinated by the difference in their bodies, the cream of his skin against the tan of Zoro’s, his lean but strongly muscled frame rubbing against Zoro’s large strong muscles. He can feel each one of them firing as Zoro slides slickly in and out of Sanji pulling him apart.

Zoro pulls Sanji upwards into his lap and Sanji gasps, yelps and moans at the change in angle and how much more deeply Zoro can slide into him. Their pace is getting erratic now and it’s clear that neither of them is going to last much longer. Sanji leans forward with his arms around Zoro’s neck and bites into his arm, he needs to stay quiet or else they won’t have to worry about telling anyone about their change in relationship because the whole goddamn town will know what they’re up to. His orgasm is building brightly inside of him and he’s fighting hard to stay silent.

“Don’t- don’t do that.” Zoro pants, trying to nudge Sanji away from biting himself to keep quiet. Sanji isn’t going to budge however and simply whines loudly in his throat.

Zoro draws a startled gasp out of him when he wraps his hand around Sanji’s thoroughly over-sensitive cock. Sanji shudders, this is going to be it.

“Please, I wanna hear you.” Zoro breathes into his ear and runs his thumb over the head of Sanji’s cock. Sanji’s not sure if it’s out of concession to that endlessly sexy plea from Zoro or from his mouth dropping open in shock but either way when he does come his mouth is free and he howls in bliss. Zoro himself moans loudly, not that you can hear it over Sanji’s voice.

Afterwards Sanji shudders happily in Zoro’s lap with the other man’s hands stroking down Sanji’s sweat slicked back. He doesn’t really care that he was loud, he doesn’t care that Patty and Carne are going to rib him about this forever because he has Zoro and that alone is worth it.

“Wow, sex and knives. What are you going to get me when it’s actually my birthday?” He laughs breathily against Zoro’s neck.

“I’ll think of something.” Zoro chuckles into his hair.


	2. Chapter 2

He is nine when Zoro’s mentor dies, he remembers because it was the 1st of March, the day before his tenth birthday. It’s seven in the morning when there’s a knock on the back door of the Baratie, the part that is the kitchen but in the morning before the Baratie opens is where he and Zeff have breakfast. 

He’s sitting on a high stool eating cereal at the table when Zeff goes to answer the door. Zeff opens it to see Zoro there. He knows Zoro, there aren’t any other kids on their street so they used to play together a little when they were younger, but it always devolved into fighting which got them both in trouble. Neither of them like the other very much at all. There used to be a little girl called Kuina but she died some time ago, he hadn’t been able to talk to Zoro about it but he’d made him lunch a few times to say that he was sorry for Zoro’s loss. 

“Zoro, what’re you doing here?” Zeff frowns down at the boy.

“Koshiro is dead.” Zoro says simply in an emotionless voice.

“What?” He and Zeff exclaim at once. 

“He… I came downstairs and… he was just there, on the floor. I think it was a heart attack.” Zoro explains looking shaken.

“Did you call an ambulance?” Zeff gasps, reaching for the phone.

“No. He was cold and stiff, it’d be a bit late.” Zoro says shaking his head. 

“Come inside, sit down.” Zeff orders, shepherding the boy inside and pulling out the seat next to Sanji, he picks Zoro up and drops him in it.

“Stay here.” Zeff adds and goes off to the phone. He calls for an ambulance and speaks in a quiet voice so that they can’t make out the details. 

Sanji stares at Zoro, he remembers that Zoro was as blank as this when Kuina died. For a moment he hates Zoro, the boy clearly has no heart if his guardian dying affects him so little, if Zeff died he’d be in pieces. 

“Do you want some of my cereal?” Sanji offers knowing that he should be polite in any case. The older boy shakes his head.

Sanji chews his cereal in silence as Zoro stares stonily at the wall. 

“Okay, the paramedics and the police are coming, they’ll probably want to ask you some questions, but it shouldn’t take long. If his death wasn’t suspicious it should be over quite quickly.” Zeff explains as he returns to the table. 

“I remember from when Kuina died.” Zoro nods. 

“Okay then.” Zeff nods simply. 

“Don’t you even care? Your guardian just died and you’re sitting there like nothing’s happened!” Sanji shouts, unable to contain his anger any longer. Zoro’s bottom lip trembles slightly but other than that there’s no reaction.

“Sanji! Be quiet! He’s in shock!” Zeff snaps angrily. 

“What’s going to happen to me? Where will I go? What’ll I do?” Zoro blurts out suddenly, looking up at Zeff with teary eyes.

“See! His old man just died and all he can think about is himself!” Sanji exclaims, pointing accusingly at Zoro.

“GO TO YOUR ROOM SANJI, NOW!” Zeff bellows so fiercely that Sanji flinches. The old man looks furious so Sanji scrambles down from his chair and flees the room. He runs to his room and slams the door but even he can’t miss the faint sounds of crying from downstairs. He hates Zoro.

From his bedroom window he can see the police car and the ambulance come and go, eventually there is just one lady who walks back to the Baratie with Zeff and Zoro. Zoro is in Zeff’s arms, sleeping on his shoulder like some kind of baby. They stop at the door and Sanji curiously opens his window a crack so that he can hear what they’re saying. 

“No, it’s fine. The boys play together all the time, they’re like brothers. I’ll look after Zoro, it’s no problem at all. I’d rather that he be somewhere familiar.” Zeff says quietly. Sanji’s eyes bug out at that, the old man is such a liar! He knows that he and Zoro loathe each other!

“Well, you were a registered foster carer before you adopted Sanji, I suppose we can let you foster Zoro until something more permanent is worked out. There would have to be checks of course, but I shouldn’t think it would be a problem. We’ll be by tomorrow.” The lady agrees with a nod.

“Thank you, goodbye.” Zeff says and comes back inside. 

Sanji wrenches his door open and runs down the stairs two at a time, coming into the kitchen where Zeff is with Zoro sleeping on his shoulder.

“Wake him up and I’ll kick your ass.” Zeff threatens quietly and walks past Sanji up the stairs.

“He can’t stay here! Where will he sleep?!” Sanji hisses at the old man. Zeff doesn’t answer him but opens the door to Sanji’s room in answer.

“No! That’s my room, that’s my bed!” Sanji wails loudly, Zeff shoots him a warning look and Sanji shuts up with an outraged expression on his face. Zeff slides Zoro into Sanji’s bed and tucks the covers around him. He turns and tugs Sanji out of the room by his collar. 

“You can’t do this! That’s my room, he can’t have it!” Sanji fumes, kicking his legs at Zeff.

“What would you have me do little eggplant?” Zeff demands gruffly, dropping his collar and plopping Sanji roughly on the ground. 

“Let that social worker lady take him away, they’ll find somewhere for him to live!” Sanji shouts angrily, how can Zeff just replace him like his? Doesn’t he mean anything to the old man?

“You want him in the social care system? He’s already lost his biological parent and now his adopted father too, and you want him shuttled around foster carers? Bouncing from house to house, from family to family? Feeling alone and scared? Because you liked that so much after all.” Zeff growls leaning down into his face.

“He’s not your problem!” Sanji protests unhappily, he hated the foster care system until he ended up with Zeff but Zeff is his now, Zoro can’t have him. 

“Neither were you little eggplant.” Zeff replies coldly. Sanji winces at that.

“Zoro is alone and he’s scared, he’s staying here, end of story.” The old man adds, straightening up. 

Zoro’s bed is moved from Koshiro’s house into Sanji’s room by the end of the day. Sanji hates Zoro. He wanted a game boy for his tenth birthday, not a brother. 

 

Sanji lasts a week before he tapes a line down the middle of the room, along the carpet, up the walls and when he can get his hands on a really tall chair he plans on doing the ceiling too. Zoro sits on his bed quietly watching Sanji.

“This side is your side, and this side is my side. I won’t go on yours and you don’t go on mine, got it?” Sanji huffs from his exertion. 

“Your side has the door on it.” Zoro points out observing the room carefully. Sanji smirks, he was quite proud of that moment of brilliance there, now Zoro will have to be extra nice to him if he wants passage in and out of their room. His side also has the large wardrobe with the mirror on it, the chest of drawers and his bedside table, as well as the window. 

“You’ll just have to ask nicely if you can go through my room to get in and out won’t you? Maybe I’ll say yes.” He says smugly.

Zoro looks at him with dark eyes. Sanji has to admit, silently and in his head, never out loud, that Zoro creeps him out a little sometimes, he doesn’t like how he has no idea about what the other boy is thinking. A sneaky catlike grin sneaks over Zoro’s face.

“What’s the penalty for stepping on the other person’s half?” Zoro asks thoughtfully.

“The person who’s side it is gets to beat the other person up and no one is allowed to say anything to Zeff.” Sanji declares, that way he can kick the crap out of Zoro without Zeff telling him off.

“Okay. We’ll keep the room like this then, you gotta ask if you wanna go through the other’s half, or you’ll get beat up, right? Shake on it.” Zoro declares, hopping off of the bed and stepping to the taped on line. 

“Right!” Sanji agrees, shaking Zoro’s offered hand. 

“Great. Well, since my side of the room has the bathroom in it I’m gonna go have a shower and brush my teeth to get ready for bed.” Zoro smirks at him. 

“Hey, wait! I need to do that too!” Sanji exclaims, he’d not thought about the bathroom! He tries to step over the line but Zoro shoves him back so hard that he lands on his ass.

“The bathroom doesn’t count, just this room!” Sanji wails unhappily.

“Of course not, but you have to go over my side to get to it don’t you?” Zoro grins. 

Sanji bites the inside of his cheek in anger and scowls up at Zoro, he tries to be nice. It’s not like he has much choice, the only other bathrooms in the place are through Zeff’s room (which he’s not going to do because he’ll get in trouble) and the customer toilets downstairs in the Baratie.

“Can I please go through your half of the room to get to the bathroom and back?” He growls.

“Hm, no. But, you can have your toothbrush.” Zoro says smugly and saunters off into the bathroom and returns with Sanji’s toothbrush and toothpaste. 

“Here you go.” Zoro smirks and tosses them at him. 

Sanji scowls up at Zoro and stomps off downstairs to the customer toilets. He brushes his teeth over their sink and hates Zoro intensely. He’ll be sorry in the morning when he has to beg to be let out of the room, he’ll say no and then he’ll get to kick the stuffing out of Zoro with no consequences from Zeff. Hah! That’ll teach him. 

 

The next morning they’re all dressed for school and Sanji is sitting smugly on his bed watching Zoro sleepily shove his arms through his shirt. Soon he will realise his mistake and then he’ll get to kick Zoro’s ass. Zoro steps to the line, his bare toes tapping on the tape, he looks at the door in silence. Sanji grins at him. 

“Gonna ask me then?” He asks smugly.

“Nope.” Zoro replies and backs away from the line.

“You gotta go to school though.” Sanji points out.

“Yep.” Zoro agrees and crouches down.

Sanji frowns at him, what is the moss head doing? Zoro bursts straight into a sprint and as soon as the boy’s bare toes touch the line he leaps and sails through the air, just landing in the living room. He wobbles unsteadily but doesn’t fall back. Sanji’s jaw drops open in outrage.

“NO FAIR!” He howls chasing after Zoro. 

 

That night when they get back from school Sanji goes into his room first and shuts the door in Zoro’s face.

“You can’t touch the door! The door is mine, it’s in my half!” Sanji shouts through the wood.

“But-!” Zoro exclaims unhappily. 

“No!” Sanji shouts back.

“What about the frame?” Zoro asks after a moment.

Sanji thinks to himself for a moment, he has to be careful here, Zoro already tricked him with the not touching the floor thing. But what could Zoro do with the frame?

“Sure. That’s neutral.” Sanji agrees. 

Zoro knocks on the wood, Sanji opens the door a narrow slip to see if Zoro is knocking on his door, but no, it’s just the frame. 

“What?” he demands, looking at Zoro. He’s going to make Zoro grovel to get let in the room.

“It’s polite to open the door when someone knocks.” Zoro points out.

“I’m not polite.” He retorts and shuts the door in Zoro’s face. Sanji is ten and he hates Zoro.

 

Over the next few months they come to a tense arrangement, he’s allowed to shower three times a week or whenever he gets especially dirty, in exchange he doesn’t shut the door to their room much. Whenever he and Zoro have a fight though all bets are off and Zoro has to either leap out of the room or climb out of the building through the bathroom window. It’s agreed with Zeff that when Zoro turns eleven he’s allowed to move back to Koshiro’s house for a few nights a week, but if he gets scared he has to come straight back home. Zoro spends most of his free time there anyway using the machines and making knives. 

Zeff takes over Koshiro’s business and lets Zoro make knives and swords for money even if business goes slowly because Zoro has to go to school still. 

At school they barely talk to each other, they never used to before so nothing is new there either. They still don’t like each other but they tolerate each other with a reasonable amount of fighting and bickering. They are both agreed on one thing, they are not brothers. 

 

When Zoro turns eleven and moves out. His bed stays in the Baratie though, as evidence should the social workers come calling. And in fairness he still stays over about three nights a week, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and the same rules about their bedroom still apply. Zoro still leaps through the air to get in and out of their room, though it’s less fun when he’s not there as much. He still comes over for all of his meals though and Zeff sends Sanji to school with lunch for Zoro which they occasionally eat together. 

One lunch time when he and Zoro aren’t eating together the school bully Duval and his gang decide to take and interest in Sanji all because that Usopp kid drew a picture of Sanji in class and everyone teased Duval saying it looked like him instead of Sanji. He mouths off to them, saying that it’s not his fault that Duval is as ugly as one of Usopp’s drawings. There’s too many of them and they beat the crap out of him, breaking his nose and giving him a black eye.

He sits shame faced in the school’s reception as Zeff comes to pick him up. Zeff takes one look at him and storms off to pull Zoro out of class, Sanji doesn’t even get a chance to tell him that Zoro didn’t do this to him before he goes. As if Zoro would do this to him, he and Zoro fight and sometimes there are cuts, bruises and broken furniture involved but neither of them would ever go this far against the other. But Zeff clearly thinks otherwise. He drags a confused looking Zoro down the hallway back towards Sanji.

“Sanji! Your face!” Zoro yelps and breaks free of Zeff’s grip (an impressive feat) as he runs to him. Zoro reaches for him but doesn’t seem to know where to put his hands.

“Who did this?!” Zoro demands.

“No one.” Sanji lies thickly through a tissue held to his nose.

“He says that he fell down the stairs.” The receptionist says unconvinced.

“I’ll make whoever did this pay!” Zoro declares solemnly. Zeff looks at the two of them and understands. He takes both of them to the hospital and the doctors reset Sanji’s nose whilst Sanji tries not to cry. That night Zeff gives him ice cream for dinner. 

Sanji stays in bed at home the next day and he’s almost looking forward to having all day to himself when he hears Zeff’s car drive off at lunchtime and come back shortly after.

“Ow ow ow!” Zoro’s voice comes from the living room. Sanji sits bolt upright in bed, why is Zoro home? Zoro went to school this morning!

He comes out of the room to see Zoro sitting on the sofa with Zeff crouched at his feet with iodine and cotton wool balls. The boy looks like he’s been through several bushes backwards and his lip is split and bleeding and his hands are wrapped up in bandages too.

“What happened to you?” Sanji asks wide eyed.

“The idiot got into a fight at school and got his dumb ass suspended for a week!” Zeff snaps angrily and applies more iodine, making Zoro hiss in pain.

“If you’re gonna fight like a man you’re damn well gonna take the consequences like a man, stop whining!” Zeff snaps and rubs more iodine on, Zoro stays silent that time, though his eyes water.

“Who’d you fight?” Sanji asks carefully. 

“Duval and his gang. That guy has no honour, so I kicked him in the nuts. Then I beat up the rest of his gang.” Zoro boasts, looking Sanji in the eyes. 

“Until you realised that there were too many and you couldn’t win and ran off and climbed a tree until the principle caught you and suspended you.” Zeff adds, brutally deflating Zoro’s ego. 

“Idiot.” Sanji smiles, ignoring the lump forming in his throat. They spend that week at home together, eating ice cream and watching old movies under a blanket together. When they go back to school though they both pretend like nothing’s different but Sanji feels that everything will always be different now, he’s not sure how though. Sanji is eleven and he respects Zoro for the first time.

 

Zoro and he start to grow apart after they hit thirteen, he’s started getting more interested in girls (they’re so pretty!) and Zoro is still only interested in swords. His mocking Zoro for his immaturity always ends in fights. 

“Good morning my beautiful flowers!” he calls, waving after two beautiful girls a year or two older than him as they enter the school gate giggling. 

“Enough making a fool of yourself, we need to buy Zeff a birthday present tonight.” Zoro scowls, pinching his arm. 

“Don’t manhandle me you ape.” Sanji snaps, pulling his arm back and kicking Zoro in the shin.

“What did you have in mind?” He asks curiously.

“I wanted to get him something nice, and I figured that if we pooled our money we could get him something really nice without either of us bankrupting ourselves.” Zoro suggests sensibly.

“Okay, yeah. I saw a really nice leather wallet in that fancy suit shop, maybe we could get him that, it was out of my price range but together we ought to be able to get it.” Sanji agrees.

“Great, well, I’ll meet you here at the end of the day?” Zoro suggests with a smile.

“No, I’ve got fifth free so I’ll head there early and pick it out, I’ve gotta get food for dinner tonight anyway we’re all out of ginger. So, I’ll meet you outside the shop after I’m done getting that.” Sanji suggests instead.

“Okay, later.” Zoro says nonchalantly and saunters off with a wave. 

Sanji leaves school at the end of fourth period and is delighted to run into one of the pretty girls in his class in the grocery shop as he’s picking out dinner. She’s so cute and funny and for once a girl seems genuinely pleased to see him. Her name is Ella and her pretty red hair shines in the light. He offers to take her to get something to eat, and because they’re still in school and broke they eat at the food court in the shopping centre. 

She’s pretty and she laughs at his jokes, she even agrees to see a movie with him that Sunday. He grins happily to himself as he walks home, Zeff’s birthday is the Saturday and he’ll see Ella on Sunday. He skips up the stairs, buoyed by his elation only to have it pop when he reaches his room. 

The door is open but when he looks inside not only is there no Zoro in there, which there should be, it’s a Friday and Zoro always sleeps over on Fridays. Although he’d have trouble doing that now. Sanji gasps as he turns on the light and sees that Zoro’s bed is broken in half, the sides are split clean in two and the bed sits in a sad little V shape. There’s chunks of paint missing from the walls and ceiling and the paint job that they had years ago shows up in a dark line, the tape has been pulled down from the walls and ceiling.

What the fuck was Zoro thinking to do- oh god, Zoro. He was supposed to meet Zoro outside that shop, he checks his watch, four hours ago! He’d just left him there on his own! His toes curl in shame as he imagines Zoro standing waiting for him for hours, looking more and more hurt as the time went on. He scrambles in his pocket for his phone, he’d turned it off. He switches it back on, he has twenty missed calls and five voice messages. 

He plays the messages and holds the phone to his ear. 

“FIVE FITEEN PM: “Hey, it’s me. Where are you? You said you had fifth off right? Uh… I’ll stay here.” NEXT MESSAGE, FIVE FOURTY PM: “Oi, where are you asshole? I’ve been waiting here for like… half an hour for you. I found the right wallet and they’ve put it behind the counter for me but you’re still not here! Get your ass over here!” SIX OH-FIVE PM “Seriously Sanji, this isn’t funny. They’re starting to give me weird looks, call me already. You’d better be okay and not, I don’t know, run over by a car or something. Call me.” SIX FOURTY-FIVE PM “Okay, so I’ve called Zeff and you’re not at home. I’m going looking for you, so if you get this and I’m not there, I’m off trying to find you.”

It’s the last message that chills Sanji the most, there’s silence for a few moments, long enough for him to catch the faint strains of music that he knows comes from the candy shop right by the food court.

“SEVEN OH-TWO PM: “…fine. Screw you, I hope you and your girlfriend choke.” END OF MESSAGES, TO REPLAY YOUR MESSAGES HIT-” Sanji hangs up. Zoro had been waiting for him for three hours and he’d forgotten him like he was nothing. And worse Zoro had seen him. He feels sick. 

Zoro had come home and done this, and the message was clear. Have your room back, have your life back because I don’t want to be here anymore. He makes a strangled sound in his throat and grabs the tape off the crumpled pile that it lays in on the floor where Zoro had thrown it. He unfurls some of it and desperately tries to stick it back onto the wall, he can put it all back can’t he? But it won’t stick and the pieces don’t seem to line up any more, something has been broken here beyond repair and he’s not sure that he just means Zoro’s bed. 

“What have you done Sanji?” Zeff asks at the door, looming large and judgemental. But Sanji doesn’t need Zeff to make him feel worse, he couldn’t possibly feel any worse, nor does he deserve Zeff’s absolution for what he’s done. He runs past Zeff, out the door and down the road. He doesn’t have any keys to Zoro’s, no Koshiro’s place, Zoro doesn’t live there, Zoro lives with him! He hammers desperately on the door, Zoro will shout and scream at him no doubt, maybe even thump him and he deserves it. What he doesn’t expect is for Zoro to look calm when he opens the door. 

“What are you doing here?” Zoro asks simply, not angrily, not accusatorially just… asks. 

“I’m so sorry!” Sanji blurts out. Zoro regards him coolly for a few seconds and Sanji can’t work out why that look weirds him out. Even though he and Zoro have never been inclined to discuss their feelings he’s always been able to read Zoro somewhat, when Zoro’s angry he stomps around with a scowl on his face. But now there’s just perfect neutrality on his face. Zoro must be really mad.

“Okay.” Zoro says with a shrug.

Sanji stares. Okay? What was that supposed to mean? Was Zoro forgiving him?

“I bought the wallet anyway, you can pay me back or not, I don’t care.” Zoro says, his face still blank. Zoro tries to shut the door on him but Sanji shoves it back, something is really wrong here. 

“I don’t care about that! Aren’t you mad at me?” Sanji presses, looking up at Zoro desperately. Zoro sighs and gives him a bored look.

“No.” He answers flatly.

“Bullshit, you trashed our room! You must be mad!” Sanji argues. Zoro doesn’t just break furniture when he’s not angry, in fact he’s never really broken furniture like this before ever.

“Sorry I messed up your room, but you get all your space back now, be happy. Or don’t, I don’t care.” Zoro answers with a small scowl, the expression vanishes as quickly as it came to be replaced with Zoro’s blank stare that makes Sanji uncomfortable for reasons he can’t quite place. Then he realises, this is how Zoro looks at everyone else but him and Zeff, with all of his barriers up, not letting anyone in. He’s on the outside for once. 

“Zoro, I said I’m sorry. I mean it! Don’t punish me for one mistake, I didn’t mean it!” Sanji pleads, Zoro can’t just shut him out like this!

“I’m not punishing you, it’s not like you can help it. It’s just what you’re like. You’ve been like this all year and you’re always going to be like this, whenever some girl flutters her eyelashes at you, you forget everything and everyone else. I’d thought that- never mind. It’s just who you are, it’s fine.” Zoro sighs. Sanji understands what Zoro means, he means that he’d thought that he was special enough to not be forgotten like everything else was. And he is special, the thought that he’s losing Zoro likes this makes him feel like his heart is being ripped out, but he had forgotten him hadn’t he?

“No, I’m not like that Zoro! I didn’t mean to… it wasn’t like that! It’s…” Sanji tries desperately. 

“It’s just what you’re like. It’s fine. I’m going to bed, see you tomorrow.” Zoro says flatly and shuts the door in Sanji’s face. 

Zoro doesn’t hate him, hate requires that you feel something. Zoro has just surgically cut him out of his life. He avoids him and when he can’t he pretends like Sanji’s just some random person. He doesn’t ignore him but he answers him apathetically. Even their friends are able to get more out of Zoro than he is, even Usopp. 

Zoro says that the wallet is from both of them, he doesn’t tell Zeff about Sanji’s failings but Sanji knows that it’s to spare Zeff’s feelings and not his. They eat together at Zeff’s but Zoro barely acknowledges that he’s alive and treats everything Sanji says with apathy. Zoro sees him less and less and eats with them less and less. He’s lost him. Sanji is thirteen and he’s nothing to Zoro.

 

The Sanji of six months ago would never have believed that he’d be pining for Zoro’s surly looks and smug grins. But they all seem so good in comparison to being left out in the cold like this. He misses Zoro deeply and hates himself for breaking something so precious so thoughtlessly. After a few months even Zeff starts to pity him. 

As always Zoro’s birthday is first, he turns fourteen. Sanji tries to make Zoro like him again by making him the most elaborate cake he’s capable of, but Zoro just says that he doesn’t really like sweet things and gives most of it away. He does eat some though, thanks Sanji and wanders off to talk to someone else. 

Two weeks after that Zeff comes into the room that is solely his now. He stands at the door with a conflicted expression on his face before flicking a piece of paper over at Sanji. Sanji is at his desk doing his homework, he picks up the paper and stares at it for a moment.

It seems to be an itinerary or something. It’s from a website and the logo at the top is a red bird with JAL written on it in white, underneath reads Japan Airlines. The line below makes Sanji’s blood freeze. “Roronoa Zoro – Osaka International Airport – ONE WAY”.

“He told me not to tell you, but that didn’t seem fair.” Zeff says by way of explanation.

Sanji clutches the piece of paper in his hands, the flight leaves in an hour and a half and the airport is an hour away!

“Wh-why? How long will he be gone?” Sanji gasps, looking up at Zeff. 

The old man shrugs slowly.

“He said he didn’t know, one of Koshiro’s relatives offered to teach Zoro all about sword making. At least a year, maybe more, maybe forever. He seemed undecided.” Zeff answers. 

Sanji distantly hears the sound of his chair bouncing off of the floor as he leaps from it. He sprints to the train station so hard that he can taste blood in his mouth from the exertion, he slams his card into the ticket machine and buys the first ticket to the airport that he sees and just makes the fast train there. He nearly hacks up his lungs coughing when he gets on the train, his shirt is soaked through with sweat from running so hard. 

The train seems to take forever but when he gets to the airport and starts running to the right departure gate he calls Zoro. He begs and pleads with the gods that Zoro will pick up. He does.

“YOU BASTARD! How could you leave the country without telling me? Where are you?!” Sanji screams down the phone at him. 

“Sanji?” Zoro asks, sounding perplexed.

“Who else would it be? Where- what gate are you at? How do I get to you? The sheet says six but I’m not sure.” Sanji says stopping to cough as his lungs protest their misuse. 

“It’s gate six, but I’m boarding now, you won’t get through.” Zoro warns. Sanji sees that he’s approaching a security gate, two big guards glare at him.

“Why do you care anyway?” Zoro asks him, chilling him to the bone. Desperation floods Sanji’s system along with more adrenaline than his pubescent body can ever reasonably use, he can’t let Zoro leave thinking that!

“Please, please, you have to let me through, I need to say goodbye to someone!” Sanji begs the guards.

“Sorry kid, you can’t get through here without a ticket.” The guard answers.

“PLEASE! Don’t do this to me!” Sanji shouts, the desperation making tears spring in his eyes. The guards just shake their heads at him. Sanji grits his teeth, no one and nothing is going to keep him from Zoro, not anymore. He backs up and sprints at the guards, planning on vaulting their station. He manages it, but as he’s sailing through the air they manage to grab him and throw him to the ground.

“Get off of me! I have to see him!” Sanji screams, kicking at them.

“Jesus Sanji! Don’t get yourself arrested! What’s wrong with you?! Calm down!” Zoro’s voice in his ear insists. Sanji stills, face down on the carpet with the guards twisting one of his wrists up painfully. 

“Why would you do this to me? Why would you leave without even telling me? You told Zeff not to even let me know you were going, Zeff said you might not even ever come back! You can’t just go!” Sanji sobs into the phone, tears streaming down his cheeks. 

“God, I thought you wouldn’t even care. What’s with all this emotion from you anyway?” Zoro says defensively. 

“Of course I care! I grew up with you, you’re my best friend! I- I love you!” He shouts into the carpet. He wishes he’d had the strength to say this sooner, when this might have been fixed. But now he’s losing it all, Zoro’s going. He’s shaking and crying and the guards have let him go and are just staring down at him along with a good portion of bystanders, but Sanji doesn’t care, all he can hear is the voice in his ear.

There’s silence on the other end of the line and a quiet female voice says “sir, you need to get on the plane now, it’s last call.” 

“Even if you go I’ll follow you! I’ll buy my own plane ticket and track you down!” Sanji swears.

“You don’t even speak Japanese, how would you find me?” Zoro says quietly, Sanji can hear a woman thanking Zoro for showing his passport in the background.

“I’ll learn Japanese, I’ll get the money, I’ll come and get you back.” He promises.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry for everything! I never meant to be such a jerk and I should have been brave enough to say this all sooner, I know I don’t deserve it but… but… I need you. Please… please don’t go, don’t leave me!” He begs, sobbing into the airport carpet.

“Sir, you need to turn off your phone, you can’t have it on when we fly.” A woman says in Sanji’s ear.

“I will, I will just… let me get to my seat first?” Zoro says quietly.

“Sanji, look. I can’t stay on the line for much longer, but… see the Japan Airlines plane out there on the runway?” Zoro asks quietly, Sanji pushes himself up off of the floor and runs to the window. He sees the plane, he could run to it if he was outside.

“I see it.” Sanji sniffs, his voice shaking.

“That’s my plane. I’m… eight windows back, see me?” Zoro says. Sanji squints and counts, there’s a flash of green in one window and he stops and stares. It’s so far away and so small but he can see Zoro’s face in the window with his phone against his own ear. 

“I see you.” He says quietly and presses his hand to the glass. Inside the plane Zoro presses his own hand to the small window. 

“Write to me? Please.” Sanji begs. 

“I will. I have to go now-” Zoro starts to say.

“No! Don’t you dare say goodbye, if you don’t say it then you can’t leave for good. So… I’ll see you later!” Sanji demands desperately. 

For the first time in almost a year he sees Zoro smile at him through the tiny window.

“See you later Sanji.” Zoro says and hangs up. Zoro and Sanji stay with their hands pressed to the windows until the plane taxis out of sight. Sanji crumples against the window and cries with happiness and sadness. 

A week later Sanji gets his first letter Zoro talks about the culture shock and Koshiro’s cousin, he talks about the workshop and the language barrier (even Zoro’s Japanese isn’t that great). But most of all at the end he signs off with “see you later Sanji.” 

Sanji writes back, he tells him about school and the Baratie, he bitches about Zeff and asks questions about Japan. But above all else neither of them ever say goodbye. Every Friday and Wednesday there’s a letter in the post from Zoro and every night he receives it he replies and posts it first thing the next morning. Sanji is thirteen and complete again.

 

Sanji is fourteen and on Friday the 9th of November no letter arrives in the post from Zoro. Sanji is fourteen and on Saturday the 10th of November there is still no letter from Zoro. Sanji is fourteen and has never been so goddamn desperate for a letter in his life! He starts panicking, Zoro has never been late with his letters. 

He goes down to the post office and shouts at them for losing his letter, he makes them look for it but they don’t find anything. When he gets home it’s nine at night and he’s grumpy as hell. He comes in and goes straight to the post to check through it again. Angrily he stomps up the stairs to his and Zeff’s place.

“The post office must have lost it, can you believe that?! Do you think I should sue them, can you do that? Maybe I should just write and say they lost it. Man, I’m so fucking- agh!” Sanji yelps as he trips right as soon as he comes in the door upstairs.

“Who left these fucking BAGS here?!” He snarls furiously, glaring down at them. Then he notices the stickers on the handles, airline stickers, stickers from Japanese Airlines. He stares at them for a second before looking up. 

Zoro is there. Right there in the flesh in front of him, and he’s taller than him. He’s tall and dark and gorgeous, Sanji doesn’t even have time to analyse that thought before Zoro opens his mouth.

“Sorry about that, my bad.” Zoro rumbles in a deep voice that goes straight to Sanji’s crotch, when did Zoro’s voice change to that?! Before he can get too excited he flings himself at Zoro and wraps his arms around his neck and just squeals in delight.

“I missed you too!” Zoro laughs deeply in his ear. Sanji thinks that it’s wise to stop touching Zoro now before that voice has too much of an effect on him. 

“Are… are you back for good?” he asks breathlessly as he pulls away, his hands tight on Zoro’s shoulders. He’d better be back for good, Sanji’s not sure that he can let him go again if he plans to leave.

“Yeah, I’m back for good.” Zoro nods with a small smile. Sanji’s heart backflips and he couldn’t possibly be any happier, he beams at Zoro. He opens his mouth but he has so much to say, so many questions, so much emotion that he just can’t pick any one thing and say it.

“You look tired.” His mouth says, clearly desperate to say something. It’s true though, Zoro has dark circles under his eyes.

“God, you’ve no idea. Sensei and Tashigi were set on throwing me this big leaving party so I was up all night and then I had my fight first thing so I didn’t sleep, then some woman had a screaming baby on the plane right behind me the whole time and now I’ve got to stay up until night time here or I’ll screw up my body clock. I swear I’ve been up for nearly three days straight.” Zoro groans, rubbing his eyes.

“Have you eaten? I’ll make you some dinner.” Sanji offers quickly. 

“Just awful aeroplane food, you cooking sounds great.” Zoro grins at him. Sanji grins back and takes him downstairs. They somehow instantly fall into the relationship they had before their stupid falling out, but somehow it’s better. It’s like Zoro never left and they can’t stop talking to each other about all the things Zoro did and all the dumb things that their friends have done this last year.

Zoro eventually falls asleep in front of the TV on Sanji’s shoulder. Zeff gives them both a gentle look and advises that Sanji put Zoro in his bed tonight. Sanji obliges and slides Zoro into his bed before covering him up, shutting the door and climbing onto the sofa under some blankets thinking about how it’s so similar to when Zoro first came here, yet so different. 

It’s then that he first starts to really think about Zoro. At some point when Zoro was away he became gorgeous, or perhaps he always was and Sanji didn’t notice until now. Even just thinking about him and his new sexy voice is making him hard. And, fair enough, he’s fourteen and it doesn’t take much to set of his sex drive, he could probably get hard thinking about the kitchen tiles if he wanted to but this takes no effort at all. He’s trying to work out if this is just hormones or whether he really wants Zoro. 

He can’t help but conclude that he really does want Zoro, he’s thought about him endlessly while he’s been away and now that he’s back it’s only got stronger. The thought of Zoro in his bed is enough to send shudders through his body. He’s never been attracted to men before and thinking about all the guys he knows it seems to just be Zoro. 

It’s only after he very quickly gets himself off that he comes to the sickening realisation that Zoro would probably be so grossed out if he knew what Sanji was thinking about right now. They’ve both always hotly denied it but they are brothers really, this is probably illegal as well as sick. And Zoro is a man too, there’s no guarantee that he’ll like Sanji back even if they weren’t sort of related. He whines unhappily into his pillow and resigns himself to a life of Zoro related sexual frustration, assuming he doesn’t grow out of it. 

The next morning he still wants Zoro and when he comes in to wake Zoro up for breakfast he just wants to climb into bed with him naked. He shoves the thoughts aside and wakes the boy up.

“Happy birthday.” Sanji whispers, shaking Zoro’s shoulder. Zoro opens his eyes sleepily and murmurs something in Japanese fondly as he looks up at Sanji. Sanji’s heart beats twice as fast as usual.

“What does that mean?” he asks, so unused to hearing Zoro speak his mother tongue, it sounds good on him.

“That this is a pretty good birthday present.” Zoro says, yawning and sitting up. 

“I actually got you a birthday present, it probably got there yesterday.” Sanji pouts. And he had, he’d bought Zoro a really cool book about medieval European swords and scrawled a note in it saying that Zoro should come back and study with him to make them. 

“Hah, oh well. Oh, hey, I got you a present.” Zoro remarks as he gets out of bed with a lazy stretch. He rummages around in his bag and pulls out a crappily gift wrapped present, Zoro never was any good at wrapping.

“It’s your birthday, you should be the one unwrapping things.” Sanji protests but undoes it anyway. It’s a sushi kit, all the instructions are in Japanese but Sanji knows the basics and Zoro will read him anything he can’t read anyway.

“Maybe you can make me sushi for my birthday.” Zoro smiles down at Sanji. Sanji grins up at him and knows that he will. 

Sanji sits in his room thoughtfully that night after Zoro’s gone home to sleep having been inundated with sushi from Sanji. He turns his computer on and thinks about the soft words that Zoro said to him in Japanese that morning. He goes onto google translate and types in English to Japanese “This is a good birthday present”. He makes it play, the end sounds right but the beginning is wrong. He keep playing with the words until the computer reads out the right sounds, he looks at the English translation: “you are a good birthday present”.

He reddens and turns the computer off. Surely that was just the inaccuracies of the software, no way Zoro said that. But… what if he did?

Zoro is fifteen, Sanji is fourteen and has a crush the size of the Baratie on Zoro. 

 

Sanji never acts on it of course, he pretends like he doesn’t dream steamy things about Zoro, he pretends like when he stares at him he’s just thinking about kicking him and not Zoro holding him down and pulling him apart. The older he gets and the more sexual experience he gets with women the more creative his imagination gets. There’s hardly a place that they’ve been to that Sanji hasn’t imagined having sex with Zoro in. But he keeps his eyes to himself mostly, and keeps his thoughts to himself completely. He never entrusts his secret to their friends just in case, although Usopp tried teasing him about it once, he never did that again. He walked funny for a week too. 

It’s Christmas, Zoro is sixteen and he’s just fifteen. He’s bought Zoro a really nice shirt and a cool collection of films with lots of sword fighting in, he’s bought Zeff the book he wanted and some new shoes (the other one is always frustratingly wasted though). 

Zoro however has only brought two shittily wrapped gifts with him and Sanji is feeling a little snubbed. They always do Christmas morning together and it’s one of Sanji’s favourite times of year even though it’s one of the few months where Zoro is a year older than him, which irks him. He’s got Zeff some fancy booze or something and he slides this awfully wrapped thing over to Sanji that looks like a large-ish bedraggled cracker. 

“One present, that’s it?” He snorts at Zoro. Zoro looks uncomfortable and doesn’t say anything, just stares at the present. Sanji sighs and unwraps it in boredom, if it’s socks he’ll cram them down Zoro’s throat. Instead it’s some black fabric roll thing with a little knot on it. He feels puzzled and pulls the cord on it open and flicks the thing open. 

His jaw drops. Inside are six gleaming knives, their blades tempered beautifully in the way that Zoro does that’s just art. His shaking fingers stroke their cold perfect blades, he pulls one free and holds it up to the light. The closer he looks at it the more perfect it seems, slowly it slides into the palm of his hand and Sanji just stops. He’s never felt anything like that, the handle sits flawlessly in his hand as if it’s just an extension of him as if it was made… for… him.

“I think he means that he likes them.” Zeff laughs deeply. 

Sanji startles back into alertness to see Zoro, the perfect, gorgeous fucking wonderful Zoro looking at him with hope in his eyes. Sanji hurls himself at Zoro, wrapping his arms around his neck and screaming that he loves them right in Zoro’s ear. 

“Are they really for me?!” He gasps, pulling back to look at Zoro. The guy is actually blushing, it’s so sweet!

“The wrapping had your name on didn’t it?” Zoro mutters, red faced.

Sanji spends the rest of the day running around playing with his new knives, all other presents forgotten. He keeps cutting things as if they were butter and running off to Zeff to show him. They’re the best thing he’s ever gotten and a way to have Zoro with him when he’s doing what he loves best. 

Sanji is fifteen and completely, utterly and hopelessly in love with Zoro. 

 

Ever since Zoro came back in the country, Sanji still can’t quite believe his luck about that, he’s been religious in making sure that he always keeps his promises to Zoro, or at the very least calls and lets him know if he needs to cancel. Something deep down also tells him to be especially careful never to blow Zoro off for a girl again. However, since Nami entered the picture that’s been increasingly difficult. He’s always been easy to distract when it comes to women and Nami might just be the love of his life. Well, perhaps not. Zoro is depressingly the love of his life, Sanji is sure about that much now, but seeing as he’s accepted that his one sided love affair with Zoro is never going to come to anything more than dreams and frustrating jerk off sessions by himself he’s going to overlook that fact. 

Nami can be the requited love of his life. 

Zoro doesn’t actually go to school anymore even though they’re both sixteen and he really should. Zeff is “homeschooling” him. Which is code for letting Zoro fuck off and make weapons unsupervised and occasionally submit some English coursework online. He still shows up at school sometimes to see Sanji though which is both brilliant and awful. They have the same circle of friends now so Zoro often has lunch with them. 

He’s flirting successfully with Nami, telling her how her beauty has struck him across the picnic bench and how much he adores her. He’s been doing this for several months now and he hopes that she’ll actually agree to one of his offers to date him soon. Suddenly a warm hand cards roughly through his hair, pulling just right but messing it all into his face at the same time. He looks up with a scowl to see Zoro sauntering past him, apparently having succeeded in messing up Sanji’s hair and his hopes with Nami for today.

“Get lost, shitty marimo! You’re good at it!” He snarls angrily as Nami laughs at them. 

“Love you too.” Zoro retorts teasingly, his voice still in that deep rumble that sets off all different parts of Sanji’s sex drive. That and the words together make his head spin, he knows that Zoro’s kidding him, mocking his hostility with fake affection but still. He forces the scowl back onto his face and turns back to Nami. 

“Sorry about that ape, my flower.” He swoons, fixing his hair quickly. 

“She’s not a flower, she’s a witch!” Zoro calls as he sits down. Sanji shoots Zoro an evil look, ever since he’s come back he’s inexplicably hated Nami. They got on more or less okay before Zoro ran off to Japan for a year. 

“Don’t talk about Nami like that, you peasant!” He snaps, pointing an accusing finger at him. Zoro ignores him pointedly and starts talking to Usopp about a machine in his workshop. 

Sanji sighs and flashes a winning smile at Nami, she looks bored at him. 

“Nami, my sweet, I was wondering if you might want to come out with me this weekend, we could-” He begins smoothly. 

“Look, Sanji.” Nami says loudly, her hands on her hips.

“I cannot make this clear enough. I am not interested in you like that, I will never be. I will not date you, I have no interest in doing so and if you ask me again I will never speak to you again, are we clear?” She insists in an irritated voice. The entire table has fallen silent and Sanji’s face is scorching.

“But- but Nami…” He pleads.

“I mean it Sanji!” She snaps, standing up and striding off. With a wince, he looks up, the others are all deliberately looking elsewhere except for Zoro who is tactlessly staring right at him. At least the marimo looks as shocked at he is and in stunned silence Zoro turns his eyes on Nami’s retreating form before flicking back to him. Shame burns on Sanji’s face as Zoro’s piercing gaze makes him feel even more uncomfortable, he’s rejected by one love and kept from the other by a series of insurmountable obstacles. He forces himself away from the table and storms off to his next class early. 

When he gets home Zoro is in their living room in faded loose jeans with a rip in the knee and a threadbare sleeveless shirt, he looks like a hobo, a sexy sexy hobo. Goddamnit, what is wrong with his brain? Zoro beams up at him, they’re both only sixteen but Sanji can already see from Zoro’s frame and his muscles that he’s just going to get bigger and even more built as he gets older. Sanji has looked at his own frame and build before and realised with some sadness that the same will not happen to him. 

“Hey.” Zoro greets him and undoes his own belt, sending Sanji’s brain right into the gutter. Zoro uses the inside of the belt buckle to pop the top off of two beers, one of which he hands to Sanji. Numbly Sanji takes the drink and sits down next to the oblivious Zoro.

“Nami didn’t exactly hold back, I thought you might need it.” Zoro offers and scooches over on the floor to allow Sanji some room next to him, leaning against the sofa and looking at the TV. Sanji folds himself onto the floor next to Zoro, their shoulders touching and thinks about Nami. 

“She was pretty clear.” He sighs and drinks. 

“I’m sorry.” Zoro sighs and drinks as well.

“No you’re not, you hate Nami.” Sanji accuses with a glare. 

“I don’t hate her.” Zoro says sounding sincere, which is a surprise to Sanji because Zoro has declared many times that he does hate her, suddenly though there’s no malice in his voice when he speaks about her. Sanji wonders what’s changed. 

“I don’t get why girls don’t like me.” He sighs morosely, running a thumb over the neck of his beer. 

“You keep picking the wrong people is all. There are plenty of people out there that want you, believe me. It’s not you.” Zoro answers and takes a deep swig of his drink. Zoro’s cheeks are red and it’s actually a little cute, Zoro is never this sweet to him, he must be feeling really sorry for him after Nami’s rejection to be so kind. Sanji’s not going to say no to the affection though, not with how desperate his crush on Zoro makes him for it. 

There’s some samurai movie on screen that’s still in the original Japanese, Zoro catches him up on the plot and translates the important bits for him in a soft voice, sometimes reading out whole scenes for his benefit. Sanji rests his head on Zoro’s shoulder and feels sorry for his lost love, both with Nami and with Zoro, but at least he has this with Zoro, at least he has this. From then on whenever Sanji has a nasty break up or a rejection they have beer and undubbed martial arts movies, sometimes they have beer and movies other times but hearing Zoro switch effortlessly from Japanese to English again is a treat reserved only for healing Sanji’s broken heart and dented pride. 

 

Sanji is seventeen when he loses his virginity. It’s amazing and awful at the same time. It’s kind of awful because it’s his first time and no one is great at anything the first time. With that said though he is probably more considerate than most male virgins. He does his best to take care of his lady’s pleasure before seeing to his own, he manages to last an almost respectable amount of time before the stray thought of “I wish this was Zoro” crosses his mind. The thought of Zoro and sex whilst he’s already having sex is just too much for him to take and does him in completely. 

Obviously he doesn’t voice these thoughts to his partner but he has a hard time (both mentally and… ah… physically) being around Zoro for a little while after that. It happens every time he sleeps with someone after that though, it’s always a flash of imagining Zoro instead that does him in. He thinks that perhaps he could try to get this Zoro-thing out of his system by having a fling with a guy that looks a little like him. Except he’s both a) not attracted to men who aren’t Zoro and b) so utterly besotted with Zoro that he knows that he wouldn’t consider anyone good enough to be comparable with Zoro. He discovers that he’s loud in bed when he realises that his female partners aren’t as vocal (although with practice he manages to make even the most naturally quiet of them very audible in their appreciation for him) he’s always careful never to say Zoro’s name though. 

It seems though that he wasn’t alone in losing his virginity at seventeen, Zoro had obviously lost his too. Sanji had quite liked Ace when he showed up and Luffy introduced his cool older brother, he liked him plenty until he realised that the guy was flirting with Zoro and worse that Zoro was responding! The more Zoro and Ace spoke and flirted the less Sanji liked him, until it got to the point where even thinking of Ace was enough to send Sanji into a black pit of loathing. He couldn’t have Zoro so why should anyone else? Especially a man! 

He scowls across the crowded bar, Ace is leaning against the bar, making eyes at Zoro who seems to be completely lapping up the attention. Sanji grinds his beer bottle into the beer mat under it at the table and hates everything. He throws the drink back and glares some more.

“What’s your problem with Ace, Sanji?” Luffy asks with an upset expression. 

“I just don’t like him is all. I don’t have to like everyone you know.” Sanji growls out. He needs to just forget it, maybe he was just being to jealous, it wasn’t as if Zoro had ever shown interest in anyone before now so perhaps it was just new. If he was going to live a life of loving Zoro from afar he’d probably have to get used to this. But still, it was just flirting. 

He glances back up and sees that Ace now has Zoro pressed up against the wall of the bar, kissing his neck. Zoro tilts his head, his eyes shut in pleasure with his face stained red with a blush. Sanji slams his beer down and abruptly turns the other way.

“I’m going home!” He announces angrily. 

“What’s wrong Sanji?” Luffy asks with wide eyes.

“Nothing!” Sanji shouts, oh god Zoro has his tongue down Ace’s throat now!

“He keeps looking at Ace and Zoro, maybe he’s jealous.” Usopp grins smugly.

“Fuck you, I hate Ace! I’m not jealous of Zoro, he can stick his tongue town Ace’s throat all he likes, I couldn’t care less! I don’t like men anyway, I’m all about the ladies.” He rants angrily, his fists clenching. 

“I didn’t say that you were jealous of Zoro, maybe you want-” Usopp continues grinning insufferably. Sanji kicks him in the nuts then and there and doesn’t feel even a little bit bad about it. He glances back at the corner where Ace and Zoro were but they’re gone now and the bar’s back door is swinging suspiciously shut. He storms out into the cold and only has to strain his ears a little to hear Zoro’s quiet chuckle in the darkness followed by a second pair of footsteps heading off in the direction of Zoro’s home. Sanji stomps back to the Baratie with tears in his eyes. 

The thought of Zoro fucking some guy when he should be fucking Sanji was just unbearable, he couldn’t tolerate it, especially as Zoro wouldn’t stop going on about the guy! The very next day he’s in the Baratie kitchen with that happy post-coital grin on his face, loitering and stealing raw food as Sanji tries to cook and ignore Zoro talking about Ace of all people. 

“Did you know that Ace can windsurf? Apparently he picked it up when he was in Australia for a few years, how cool is that?” Zoro grins at him as Sanji angrily chops carrots. 

“Good for him.” Sanji grits out through clenched teeth. 

“I think he’s cool, it’s nice to have someone to talk to about travel, he’s been all over the place.” Zoro smiles distantly.

“Why do you need Ace to talk to about that? You and I used to talk about you going to Japan all the time!” Sanji points out waspishly. 

“Well yeah, but he’s actually been places too.” Zoro shrugs and steals a carrot slice and crunches into it happily. 

“Well sorry I’m not as interesting as freckles. Now piss off, I have work to do.” Sanji huffs and slaps Zoro’s arm with the flat on his knife. 

“Hey, you really hate him don’t you? It wasn’t just Usopp lying, he said you kicked him when he mentioned something about Ace last night, what’s up with you?” the marimo asks with a curious tilt of his head. 

“Just leave it, not everyone likes your new stupid hat wearing, freckle faced, smart mouthed, loser friend!” Sanji snaps, only just able to stop from calling Ace Zoro’s boyfriend. 

“Well, I was going to invite you to see that movie with me tonight, but if you’re gonna be an asshole…” Zoro shrugs nonchalantly. 

“You wanted to go to the movies with me?” Sanji asks with wide eyes, his hands stilling. Zoro makes an affirmative noise and steals another slice of carrot. 

“You know, that one you were going on about, with that guy.” Zoro says, clarifying nothing. 

“How helpful.” Sanji grins back.

“Fuck you, you know what I mean. The cop one.” The other man snorts. Sanji can’t help but smile, he loves going to the movies with Zoro, films were sort of their thing together and, lame as it sounds, he likes being in the theatre with Zoro. In the dark of the movie theatre he can pretend for a moment that Zoro isn’t sort of related to him and that, perhaps, they are there on a date. Some part of him always hopes that the lights will come back on and that stupid little fantasy will have somehow become reality. 

“But, I guess you won’t want to go.” Zoro sighs with mock innocence.

“I want to go. What time?” He asks and smacks Zoro’s hand away from stealing more food.

“Eight. But since Ace and Luffy are coming too… or rather, Luffy was supposed to be coming but I think Usopp roped him into this video game thing, so it might be just the three of us.” Zoro shrugs. Sanji’s smile turns to a scowl, just him, Zoro and Zoro’s new lover? Fuck that! 

“I don’t want to go, screw the pair of you!” Sanji spits and stomps off upstairs. 

“What’s your problem?” Zoro yells after him but Sanji doesn’t want to talk to him. 

Sanji has that evening off, he’d rather be at the movies with Zoro and Zoro alone, but the other man was probably making out with his new boyfriend in the dark. His heart clenches and he whines to himself. It was a horrible double edged sword, on the one had it was confirmation that Zoro did like men, and that potentially he could like Sanji back. But to find it out by Zoro seeing someone else and to see some lucky bastard having all the freedom in the world to kiss the love of Sanji’s life, it just hurt too much. He locks himself in his room and tries to read, watching as the clock slips past eight and tries not to imagine what Zoro is doing with someone else right now. 

He’s more than surprised then when he hears, muffled through his bedroom door, the deep sexy lilt of Zoro’s voice in his living room. He gasps and scrambles to the shut door, pressing his ear to it.

“Hey old man.” Zoro rumbles in greeting.

“You want dinner?” Zeff asks. 

“That’d be great actually, I had planned to eat out tonight but plans changed.” Zoro answers. Sanji’s eyes widen, did Ace stand him up? That unappreciative bastard!

“I’ll see what we’ve got downstairs.” Zeff says and from the click of his pegleg Sanji guesses that he’s leaving, often the three of them will eat something that’s been sent back or mis-ordered from the kitchen, if there isn’t anything then either he or Zeff would usually cook. 

“Hey, old man, do you know what’s wrong with Sanji?” Zoro asks hesitantly. 

“I could go on for hours about all the things wrong with Sanji, you’re going to have to be specific.” The old man snorts. 

“Well, he’s been really bitchy and angry since Ace got here. Has he said anything to you?” the marimo asks, concern ringing loudly in his voice. 

“What do you think?” Zeff says dismissively and walks downstairs. 

Zoro sighs to himself and after a moment heads towards Sanji’s locked door, he knocks on the frame, a habit Zoro never grew out of from when they were kids as the door was Sanji’s and not his. After a few hesitating seconds, not wanting to seem like he was standing right by the door, he opens it. 

“What do you want?” He asks like a petulant child. Goddamnit, couldn’t he just be civil to Zoro? Why did his mouth have to me so much faster than his brain?

“I wanted to see if you were okay, you’ve been really weird lately.” Zoro answers, the corners of his mouth tugging down into a displeased expression. 

“I’m fine, aren’t you supposed to be at the movies with what’s-his-face? What’d he do? Ditch you?” Sanji huffs, stomping back into his room and glaring out the window. 

“No, I told him I couldn’t make it, I wanted to see what was up with you. Is this really all about Ace? Is that why you’re so pissed off at me?” the other man presses, following him in. 

“No!” He denies hotly. 

“So that’s a yes then.” Zoro sighs, seeing through his paper thin lie. Sanji glances over at the troubled looking Zoro. Hell, the other man already knows that it’s about Ace, the least he can do is give him a little bit of the truth. He turns to face Zoro and tangles his hair tightly in the back of his own hair.

“I just hate seeing the two of you together, it’s gross. It pisses me off.” Sanji admits. Zoro’s posture stiffens and Sanji sees his fists snap shut.

“Because he’s a guy. I really didn’t think I’d get this from you Sanji.” Zoro says harshly although Sanji doesn’t have to be a mind reader to hear the note of hurt in the tone. Sanji’s eyes widen and he looks up at Zoro in shock, the other man thinks that he has a problem with it because Zoro is into men!

“What? No! I don’t care that Ace is a guy, I just- he’s such a self-aggrandising douchebag! And seeing him all over you… it’s just- ugh!” Sanji exclaims. What he really wants to say is that he hates Ace simply because he has what Sanji can never have, Zoro. 

“He’s not a douchebag. If you actually got to know him-” Zoro corrects irritably. 

“He is! And I don’t want to hear you harping on about how great he is! I get it, you and he talk about travel and sports and all the things that I apparently am no good to talk to about! I just don’t want to hear it!” Sanji snaps turning his back on Zoro and trying to blink away any dampness in his eyes that has nothing to do with filling with tears because Sanji is a man goddamnit and men don’t cry about stuff like this! And if he did, which he isn’t, his eyes would be glistening with unshed manly tears. 

“Oh.” Zoro says slowly, as if realising something huge.

“Oh, you’re jealous!” Zoro exclaims loudly. Sanji’s face instantly flushes, of course he’s jealous, he’s loved Zoro since forever and now he’s off with some other man! But Zoro couldn’t know that, it’d ruin everything! He’d have to convince Zoro that he wasn’t, and fast!

“No I’m not!” He squawks impudently, turning on his heel and glaring right at Zoro’s face.

“You are!” Zoro laughs loudly, stinging Sanji’s pride somewhat.

“I don’t get it, really I don’t. We grew up together and you still act like a spoilt only child sometimes! Just because I hang out with someone else or see movies with someone else doesn’t mean I’m going to just forget you Sanji, honestly!” Zoro laughs loudly. 

Sanji glares at the floor, at least Zoro hasn’t realised that he’s romantically jealous too, but still… is it really so funny? Suddenly Zoro’s large warm hand is around the back of Sanji’s neck and pulling him close to Zoro. Zoro presses his forehead to Sanji’s and laughs gently.

“Idiot.” Zoro grins, with a world of affection in his tone. Sanji bites his lip, he wants so desperately to tilt his head up and kiss Zoro, but he can’t. He can’t risk offering all of himself to Zoro and have the other man turn him down. 

“Come on, let’s have dinner and watch a movie since you made me miss mine. You can pick.” Zoro smiles, tugging him by the hand into the main room. Zeff brings them food and the two of them curl up on the sofa next to one another and watch the film. He sighs and leans his head against Zoro’s shoulder. He’s seventeen and for now this is enough.


	3. Chapter 3

Zeff had been told as a teenager that unprotected sex led to all kinds of diseases and even children! He'd gone his entire life without unprotected sex and was, to that credit, disease free. He did however have two children, which really didn't fit with the sex education that he'd been given. He'd never got a girl pregnant, he'd never got married but here he was with two kids, a small business and everything but a white picket fence and a fucking dog!

He nurses a headache as Sanji kicks Zoro off of the sofa onto his ass resulting in a plethora of screaming, punching and insults.

It had all started innocently enough, he'd set up the Baratie and started cooking, he'd hired staff and things were great. Only he noticed that one of the sixteen year old kids Patty who washed dishes started showing up with more bruises than usual, he started becoming quiet and withdrawn. Eventually he noticed that Patty was making every excuse to come in early and stay late, even going so far as doing his homework in the kitchen when Zeff was balancing the books.

He'd called social services, anonymously of course, just to find out what he should do if a kid that he employed might be being abused. It turned out that they were already well aware of the situation but they had no one to foster a teenager so they had no choice but to leave him in the house with his father who beat the crap out of him. The cops were no help since Patty wouldn't make a statement to the police because every time his father got arrested he got it much worse when he came home, besides the statements apparently never stuck due to lack of evidence. It was bullshit.

So Zeff offered his house, it was above the Baratie and he had a spare room that he wasn't using. The social were more than happy that he was going to take someone like Patty off of their hands. Patty moved in and started saving up enough money to get his own place, Zeff agreed to be a guarantor for any place he rented. Before long Patty's friend Carne turned up in a similar situation, his old man had punched him so hard he'd lost teeth. Zeff's spare room became occupied again until Patty and Carne got a place together.

It was a can of worms really, before he knew it he was acting as a halfway house for stupid angry teenage boys that were violent and unreliable. Zeff did the only thing he could do, he gave them jobs, taught them how to cook and gave them skills. Most stayed, a few moved on to other jobs. His kitchen became a cross between a young offender's institution and a gourmet restaurant, but hell, those boys could cook.

That was all fine until the social worker that Zeff dealt with showed up one day with a file in her hand.

"We have someone who really needs a home." She began with a sigh.

"Sure, spare room, I'll give him a job, the usual." Zeff had shrugged figuring that this was just another case.

"He's six, a little young for work. No one else will take him, not for long anyway. He's got the same kind of problems that your boys have. He's angry, violent, acts out. Somehow he's already a smoker too, can you believe it, at six!" She had exclaimed and handed his file over.

The kid's name was Sanji. His father was a mystery and his mother had been more concerned with her next drug fix than with her kid, even so it'd really fucked the kid up when he'd had to watch his mother beaten to death by a drug dealer. The social had taken him but by then he already distrusted adults enough to not be the angel that he looked like. The kid had been bounced from house to house, from family to family, picking up more problems and issues along the way. The kid had a history sheet that was as long as the teenagers despite being almost a decade behind them.

"I'll see what I can do." He'd said. He'd like to be able to say that it was a mistake, but despite everything he can't.

The shrimpy blonde kid showed up the next day, he told him that he fucking hated him, spat on him and then did his level best to trash the place. He'd managed to catch the kid and hold him still long enough to talk to him.

"Listen, brat. I don't care if you hate me, I don't care if you don't want to be here, I don't even care if you break stuff. You're here because you need somewhere to live with someone who isn't just gonna kick you out at the first sign of trouble, you don't need to like it. You're gonna go to school, you're gonna eat the food I make you and you're gonna live here, that's all I need from you." He'd said. Sanji had stilled and for a second he'd thought he'd got through to the little shit.

"Fuck you." The kid snarled and kicked him.

However, after a while Zeff started to see Sanji, the real Sanji. Under all that dirt and scowling was a little boy who needed a home, and if you didn't pay attention to the swearing and the insults there was a small voice begging not to be abandoned again. Sanji started to learn to cook and mellowed out a hell of a lot, he started sleeping through the night and stopped breaking stuff. He still kept fighting with the neighbourhood boy Zoro but they both pretended like they weren't doing it, something Koshiro agonised over.

Koshiro lived down the road, he was also a foster parent but for very different reasons. His wife had died giving birth to their daughter Kuina and a few years after that there'd been a huge fire downtown in the immigrant quarter. A Japanese family burnt to death, a parent and two kids all dead except for a little toddler who through some miracle had survived. Apparently Koshiro didn't even know the kid but took him in anyway, and since the social were big on people fostering and adopting within their own race and culture they were happy to do so.

In theory the kid ought to have been too young to remember anything but Zeff could tell that he did. He freaked the hell out whenever there were bonfires and the smell of smoke made him cry, or so Koshiro told him. Koshiro was a nice guy and all but his parenting style of strict but loving upbringing was very different to Zeff's gruff and caring but mostly anything-goes style. Still, it was nice to catch up from time to time and talk about things. Koshiro adopted the little boy as soon as he was able.

As soon as Sanji's problems started fading people wanting to adopt him started coming by, couples who maybe wanted a nice little boy for their family. It puzzled the fuck out of Zeff, here was Sanji's chance to have a proper family and every time a nice couple came by wanting to offer him a home he instantly reverted back to his old self, it puzzled the social worker too who'd seen Sanji's changed nature enough to know that for whatever reason Sanji was doing it deliberately.

It had been after a particularly bad episode which had ended with Sanji biting one of his new prospective adopted parents that Zeff had decided to intervene.

"What the hell, shitty eggplant? You're never going to get adopted at this rate!" He'd yelled.

"I don't care! I hate them! I don't want to be adopted by them!" Sanji had screamed back and kicked him. Zeff backed off out of the kid's range and sighed.

"You didn't even get to know them, you can't hate them. Don't you want a home and a family?" He'd pointed out reasonably.

"I've got a home and a family! I don't want them!" The little eggplant had bawled.

"Oh." Was all he'd been able to say. The adoption paperwork had gone through shockingly quickly, the social were really pleased to get Sanji off of their books for good.

So Zeff had ended up with one kid, he could handle that.

And then Zoro had turned up on his doorstep a few years later, white as a sheet.

"Koshiro is dead." Zoro had said simply in an emotionless voice.

"He… I came downstairs and… he was just there, on the floor. I think it was a heart attack." Zoro had gone on to explain. Zeff had been wise enough to see shock and trauma with big flashing red lights then, he'd seen it in his other kids and he'd seen it in Sanji. Awful things were happening in the kid's brain and he couldn't get in there to stop them.

He'd called an ambulance and the police, leaving Zoro to sit staring blankly at the wall next to Sanji as he ate his breakfast. He was partially worried that Koshiro's death might trigger something bad in Sanji's mind but the kid seemed on the outside to be fine. You never knew with Sanji though, they'd watched a film with drug references a month or two ago and for a week after that Sanji had been agitated and angry at nothing. Some of Sanji's triggers were quiet and subtle but they were still there.

"Okay, the paramedics and the police are coming, they'll probably want to ask you some questions, but it shouldn't take long. If his death wasn't suspicious it should be over quite quickly." He'd explained calmly to Zoro, with a comforting hand on his shoulder. The kid was still as a statue though and it was really starting to worry Zeff. Crying, cursing and violence he could deal with, but this quiet shock was terrifying.

"I remember from when Kuina died." Zoro had said in an almost bored voice, worrying Zeff further.

"Okay then." He'd said, not knowing what else to say, a condition that Sanji never suffered from.

"Don't you even care? Your guardian just died and you're sitting there like nothing's happened!" Sanji screamed furiously. In a detached way Zeff knows that it's fear motivating Sanji's harsh words, but it's still not okay. Zoro's bottom lip trembles slightly but other than that there's no reaction to Sanji at all.

"Sanji! Be quiet! He's in shock!" He'd scolded Sanji, but then Zoro started to fall apart.

"What's going to happen to me? Where will I go? What'll I do?" Zoro had said, starting to panic and looked up at Zeff with wide tearful eyes.

"See! His old man just died and all he can think about is himself!" Sanji accused, jabbing a finger in Zoro's direction. A sob rippled through Zoro's tiny body and Zeff had decided that he could only deal with one emotionally traumatised kid at once and shouted at Sanji to get the hell to his room.

Zoro fell to pieces, bawling in Zeff's arms about how it was his fault. Koshiro had told Zeff before that Zoro had this idea in his head that his parent's death had somehow been his fault, that he was cursed, it had arisen again when Kuina died and with Koshiro dead it had only got worse. The kid was wrong of course, he wasn't cursed but even Zeff could see how you might come to think that.

He'd sworn blind that Zoro wasn't cursed, that everything was going to be okay and that they'd go and see the police and talk to them and then Zoro could go to sleep.

It ended up being a long agonising day, Zoro was a mess and Sanji deep down was terrified that he was being replaced and was going to be abandoned again. Zeff would have liked to have put Zoro in a different room so it didn't seem like he was actually physically replacing Sanji with another kid but he had no choice. Bringing Zoro's bed over didn't seem to help much either.

The problem with Sanji had always been that you couldn't tell him things, or very rarely. Sanji didn't believe words because people lied, he only believed what he saw. You could tell him that things would be okay or that something wasn't going to hurt him but until the little eggplant believed it and saw it with his own eyes he'd never believe it. So he could hardly say that he wasn't going to abandon him, or that everything would be okay, because how many people before had said that to Sanji only to let him down? No, the boys had to work out their own problems themselves.

For the most part they had, they'd marked their own territory and operated on some weird stand off truce. He'd only had to really intervene twice, the first time probably saved Zoro's life and stopped Zeff ending up in prison for losing a kid.

The school had called on Zoro's second day saying that Zoro had never turned up. If Sanji had not shown up in school Zeff would have been content in the knowledge that he was skipping school and probably stealing smokes from some corner shop somewhere. But Koshiro had always been so pleased at how good of a student Zoro was and the kid had seemed happy about his first day at a new school yesterday, despite the early morning jitters about it. So if Zoro wasn't there then something was wrong. Half an hour later the phone rang and Patty answered it.

"Baratie, how can I help?" Patty's had asked in a voice that said that he both didn't want to help and why were you wasting his precious time making him answer the phone, you fucker?

"Hold on- ZEFF! It's your kid!" Patty had yelled, nearly giving Zeff a heart attack. He'd sprinted over to the phone, his peg leg hurting from the speed but desperate to get to it.

"Oi, Zoro is that you? The school called and said you never turned up! Where ARE you?!" He'd shouted, furious with worry.

"I got lost." A small voice admitted down the other end of the phone. Zeff tried to calm down.

"I thought Sanji was walking with you?" he had asked.

"He said he'd only do it the once, I walked on my own this morning. Can you come get me?" Zoro's quiet and slightly scared voice pleaded. Zeff gritted his teeth and resolved not to strangle Sanji tonight, no matter how much he wanted to.

"Okay, where are you?" He'd sighed.

"I don't know, if I knew that I wouldn't be lost!" the smart aleck-y half pint had pointed out.

"That's not what I- ugh. Are there any street signs near you?" He'd demanded.

"Uhm. There's the happy fishmongers, although it's translated wrong, it actually says "joyful fish" in Japanese. I think the sign on the corner says New Tokyo street." Zoro had said in a pleased tone.

"…that's three miles in the wrong direction. Look, just stay there I'll be with you in ten minutes." Zeff knows the layout of the town pretty well in his head and he knew that it was the end of town where Zoro's parents lived when they were alive, he couldn't help but wonder if this getting lost had been deliberate somehow, even at a subconscious level.

He got in his car and drove as fast as he could, when he got to the happy fishmongers Zoro was sitting outside on the kerb by a phone box waiting for him, his oversized backpack next to him on the ground.

"How did you manage to get so lost half pint?" He had asked as Zoro got in the car and he started the drive to school.

"I don't know, Sanji told me to remember to take the first right so I did!" Zoro said gesturing with some exasperation. Zeff tried to think of some nice way to say this that wasn't too blunt and came up with nothing.

"Zoro… That's your left hand." He'd said quietly.

"No, it's my right." Zoro frowned, holding up his left hand for Zeff to see.

"No, that's your left. Can't you tell your left from your right?" He'd asked with concern.

"Sure I can, this is my right hand, because I write with it." Zoro had scoffed as if it was obvious.

"You're left handed, not- that's not what right means Zoro." Zeff had groaned.

"Sure it is." Zoro argued back.

"You're walking with Sanji from now on." Zeff groaned. That night he'd told Sanji in no uncertain terms that Zoro was to walk with him every day from then on or else.

The second time he thought he'd had to intervene was when he had got a call from the boys' school saying to pick Sanji up, the kid looked like he'd lost about six fights one after another and Zeff's mind had flicked just to the day before. Sanji had been a mean little shit because Zeff had been trying yet again to get him to give up smoking, it hadn't been going well and Sanji had taken all of his anger out on Zoro and nearly kicked him out of a window. Everything about it from Sanji's demeanour to the fact that he wouldn't say what happened screamed that Zoro had done it. But when he'd got Zoro the kid had been outraged at the harm done to Sanji and sworn revenge. He'd been entirely unsurprised when Zoro got suspended the next day for fighting some kids. You could talk a lot of shit about Zeff's boys, about their lack of manners, about their language, about their attitude but no one could say that Zeff's kids didn't stick together. Zeff was the proudest parent around that day.

When Zoro was twelve he'd come to Zeff with a question which was more of a confession in retrospect.

"Zeff?" Zoro had asked as Zeff focused on cleaning the work surfaces in the kitchen. He'd grunted something in response so Zoro had continued.

"We keep doing sex ed classes in school and… they keep going on about girls, about everything we're feeling and all that crap." Zoro said nervously picking at a dishrag.

"Yeah?" He'd asked, raising an eyebrow at Zoro, hoping and praying that he was too young to have got some girl knocked up.

"But… some of the things they keep saying about how we're supposed to feel about girls… I feel that, but not about girls, about a boy. Is that… is there something wrong with me?" Zoro gritted out and deliberately didn't look at Zeff.

"Nope. You're fine." He'd reassured Zoro. The kid had stared at him for a while before nodding and saying goodnight. They never spoke about it again and it was quite some time until Zeff had worked out which boy in question Zoro had been referring to. Only when they had taken a family trip to the beach and he'd spotted Zoro gawping at an entirely oblivious Sanji contorting to put sun tan lotion on every inch of himself did it click. Sanji was the boy Zoro liked.

That one had kept Zeff awake at night for some time. Was there something wrong with Zoro? If Sanji had been anyone else's kid he'd have said no, that he was just a normal kid growing up and getting crushes on people, albeit of the same gender. But this was Sanji, his brother. Both of them were his kids so in his mind they were brothers, it'd taken many months before he'd come to understand that just because he considered them brothers to each other didn't mean that they did. Patty of all people had to point it out to him. The boys considered each other best friends at least, arch rivals too, but not brothers.

So he'd been kind of okay with it, it was just a passing crush after all.

Only, it wasn't. He'd watched as both boys grew up more and Zoro cared more and more for Sanji, the oblivious idiot didn't even realise it. Despite not being one to attribute such things to someone so young he'd felt confident even then deciding that Zoro was in love with Sanji, his stupid son, not that he was sure which one of them was dumber.

When the boys were thirteen though he had to watch Sanji break Zoro's heart, it was painful enough watching your child be in pain but worse still when it was your other child that caused it. Zoro was always the first to defend Sanji against anything (as long as Sanji wasn't around to hear him do it) and over the last year Sanji had been obsessed with girls, Zeff didn't know how much that hurt Zoro but the half-pint was still loyal and staunchly defended the little eggplant from criticism over it.

When Zoro had called he'd heard the pain and worry in Zoro's voice, Sanji had stood Zoro up and the poor sap had been waiting on him for hours. Zoro was desperate though, trying to come up with any number of reasons that Sanji could have done this to him and torturing himself in the process. The half-pint was imagining awful things, like Sanji dead in an alleyway or mugged. It was painful to listen to, like Sanji would let getting hit by a car kill him, or that any mugger could take anything from Sanji but a beating. But the idea that Sanji could let Zoro down so completely was so inconceivable, so he was searching for an explanation other than 'he just didn't think about you and something more important to him came along'. Zeff could guess what that'd be, a girl.

Zoro had come home completely destroyed, he'd trashed their room and sobbed his little heart out. If someone else's kid had done this to Zoro he might have been able to comfort the kid, to tell him that the bastard didn't deserve his affection. But he knew that Sanji was a good person underneath his stupid adolescent selfishness, and so did Zoro, which was why it hurt so badly. And he could hardly comfort him about a love he was supposed to know nothing about. He'd left to give Zoro some privacy, not that the kid had noticed him, he'd waited in the stairwell and ignored the concerned looks that his staff of men who used to be his kids too gave him. Everyone knew about how Zoro felt, no one said but everyone knew.

Zoro finally emerged looking like all hell, he was still crying.

"Zoro, you're crying." He had said simply and wiped away the tears. He had felt bad for his kid, but how could you protect them against something like this?

"I'm sorry." Zoro had whimpered and curled into Zeff's shirt, tears streaming down his face. Once again he was the small abandoned kid that Zeff had to put back together, and he couldn't help hearing Zoro's choked words that he'd said when he first got here. 'Everyone I love leaves me, I'm cursed!'

"What for?" Zeff he'd demanded with a frown, Zoro had nothing to be sorry for goddamnit. And if he was talking about the furniture, well, it was just stuff, it could be replaced.

"It's… it's not you, I just can't stay here with him any more. I can't let… I need to go." Zoro had said in a non-answer, pulling away from him.

"You're still my old man, if… if you still want me after this of course." Zoro choked out, trying to slide past him. Zeff wasn't about to let that happen though and caught him.

"Half pint, you couldn't ever do anything to stop being my kid. Now talk to me." Zeff had asked patiently. For a moment Zoro had looked at him and he'd thought that Zoro would tell him everything, but the boy pulled away a second later, apologised and ran off.

An hour or so after that Sanji had returned home happy as a fucking clam, humming under his breath and walking with a spring in his step, oblivious to the looks everyone was giving him. His bubble only burst when he saw the room. Zeff had watched hawk like from the living room as Sanji, unaware of his presence, had listened to his messages on his phone and dashed about the room trying to repair his things.

Zeff had never been truly disappointed or angry at Sanji in the entire time he'd been there until then. The broken furniture, the harsh words, even the lies about smoking he handled. But Sanji knew just how much it hurt to be abandoned and hurt over and over again by people who were supposed to love you, he still had the scars both physical and mental to prove it. Zeff had hoped that he'd raised Sanji well enough to respect other people and never put another soul through that, but evidently he'd failed.

"What have you done Sanji?" He'd finally demanded, wanting and explanation, a justification from his son's own lips. But Sanji had barely paid any attention to him and just run off.

He'd not said anything to Sanji when he returned home some time after that looking hollow and shaken, he'd not done anything when he heard Sanji cry, this was a lesson that Sanji needed to learn and learn hard if Zoro would ever forgive him. He hadn't been sure that Zoro ever would.

After that he'd watched the half-pint ignore Sanji with a fierce determination that he didn't know he was capable of, nothing Sanji did could change it. The eggplant tried pleading and begging, he tried bribery and flattery but that didn't work, he even tried getting angry, lashing out at Zoro and trying to make him fight him. Nothing worked. Nearly a year went by and Zeff was starting to feel seriously sorry for Sanji. The kid might have been an insensitive dick but he wasn't sure that he deserved this, but he could see if from Zoro's side too, everyone he loved left his life and he wasn't big on second chances.

When Zoro had told him he was going to Japan he had been torn between keeping his promise to Zoro not to say anything and giving Sanji that second chance he needed. He chose Sanji, if the kid made it both Sanji and Zoro would thank him.

Sanji stared at the flight schedule with wide eyes and before Zeff could even offer to drive him there, breaking every speed limit along the way the eggplant ran out of the building and tore down the street like his ass was on fire. When Sanji got home he was tired, scuffed up and tearstained. But he looked up at Zeff with a big beaming smile and said:

"Zoro promised he'd write."

He'd said it with such relief, such joy that Zeff knew things would be okay. Twice a week after that his boys would send each other letters, regular as clockwork. Before a new letter came Sanji would get bitchy and irritable, worse than when he was out of smokes (a habit that Zeff had long stopped trying to break Sanji of by then), but when he got them the kid would light up like a Christmas tree and he'd sit there reading avidly with wide shining eyes before rushing back and writing his own reply to post the very next morning. Zeff might be hard hearted old bastard but it was adorable even to him.

It was then that Zeff started to realise that he might not just have one son pining after the other, but two.

When Zoro eventually returned Zeff's suspicions were confirmed, the look that Sanji gave Zoro the entire day was poorly disguised teenage lust. Zeff had thought that it'd be the end of it, soon one of them would crack and he'd come upstairs one day to find the two of them half naked on the couch trying to screw each other's brains out. But it never happened, the idiots both spent their time stealing wanting glances at the other and trying not to get caught. It was fucking ridiculous. Everyone at the Baratie knew and he was pretty sure that most of their friends knew, they were just too chicken shit scared of either Zoro or Sanji or both to bring it up.

Which is why he currently has a headache, he's in a position he's not sure many parents have ever been in before. He's trying to work out how to get his stupid nineteen year old kids to just have sex with each other and be done with it.

"I hope you fall down a well and drown!" Sanji shouts over the TV and stomps off to his room, aggravated at Zoro retaliating for the being kicked off the sofa thing with a punch to the kidney.

"Fuck you very much!" Zoro shouts after him from the floor.

Zeff cradles his head in his hands. Use protection they said, prevents disease and kids they said. Liars. Drastic times call for drastic measures.

"Zoro, remember those knives you made for Sanji for Christmas a few years back?" Zeff says casually.

"Yeah." Zoro grunts, rubbing his cheek which still has the pattern from the bottom of Sanji's shoe embedded in it.

"I wonder how they compare to the knives you make for the rookies, I mean, you've improved so much that your average work must be nearly at the kind of standard that your best was at sixteen years ago." He says innocently, as if it was just a passing idea. It's kind of cruel really, Zoro gets so possessed by the idea of perfection that to deliberately set is off is a little mean, but Zeff is out of options.

Zoro sits there for a few minutes staring into space.

"New knives…" he murmurs and wanders off home.

Zeff sinks low into the now unoccupied sofa and resolves to get drunk in peace and quiet. He manages all of thirty seconds before the fire alarm goes off downstairs, no doubt Patty fucking up flambéing something again.

Kids. God help him.


	4. Chapter 4

It had been six months since Zoro had given the little eggplant his new knives, his second custom made set, to replace the ones he got when the brats were just little teenagers. Now they were nineteen, fuck, how did they get so old? Still, Zeff had been worried before that something was going on with his boys, their errant crush seemed to be spiralling out of control, so much so that Zeff had even tried to set something in motion about it. It didn't seem to work though, the two of them weren't together as far as Zeff could tell, he was sure one of their loudmouth friends would have blabbed if they were.

Still, the knives had seemed to smooth over whatever tensions had been building and both boys- well, young men, seemed to be happier. Peace reigned in the Baratie as much as it ever did. Which is to say that the half pint and the little eggplant still fought viciously on occasion over nothing of consequence and usually broke or damaged something, sometimes each other and sometimes furniture.

Zeff is watching a newbie Coby slice carrots, the dumb ass kid is so nervous that he is in danger of amputating a finger. The social still send him kids to keep an eye on but even they know that he can't foster any more, not with Zoro and Sanji as permanent features in his life. He still provides work and a safe environment for kids though, the kid is about fourteen now and starting to shape up nicely in the last three months since he's been with them.

Sanji walks into the Baratie and heads upstairs past Zeff, humming under his breath to go get changed for work, the little eggplant looks happy.

"Shit, I really need to go drinking with Zoro, you think I could convince him?" Patty grumbles, looking at Carne.

"Why would you want to go drinking with Zoro?" Carne asks from behind Zeff where he's stir-frying the carrots that Coby is slowly slicing.

"Well, that's Sanji's 'I got laid' face, he's even humming. He went drinking with Zoro last night, he's like this whenever he goes drinking with Zoro. That guy must be one hell of a wingman to get Sanji laid so often, it's crazy. I need me some of that!" Patty whines pitifully.

Sanji walks back past them all, buttoning up the last few buttons of his chef's whites. He does look happy, suspiciously so. Zeff strains his ears as Sanji unrolls his knives at his station, the eggplant is even humming that song about raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens! That's just- it's almost sick how happy he is.

"What's got into you eggplant?" Zeff enquires suspiciously, Sanji looks up with wide eyes as if he's been caught out.

"You mean who's he got into!" Patty cackles at Zeff's side.

"Zoro." Sanji says flatly, turning around to look at them both. Now that stops Zeff short, Patty and Carne too. Was Sanji serious?

Before he can ask though a familiar pair of arms flies into Zeff's peripheral vision and he looks to the side to see Zoro holding Patty in a ruthless choke hold. He ignores Patty's struggle for his life and Zoro's serial killer grin and glances back at Sanji who's smiling with obvious pleasure. Zeff's suspicious mind simmers slowly, this wouldn't be the first time that Sanji's told a truth disguised as something else. Granted he used to do it more when he was an insecure foster kid, afraid to tell any real truths about important things unless he was mocked, but if he played it off like a joke or no big deal then he could say it risk free. Still… Sanji hasn't really done that much for years, not since Zoro moved back to the country. All the same…

Zoro releases Patty from his certain death fate and strolls up to Sanji's workbench, leaning casually on the side.

"Shouldn't you be working?" Zoro asks casually.

Sanji frowns and looks down at his chef's clothes and across the kitchen.

"I am working fuck-face, shouldn't you be working?" the blonde snaps back angrily. Zeff's suspicion levels drop a little more. Nah, his boys were the same as they ever were, hopelessly unrequitedly in love with each other but in practice simply platonic and hostile.

"Did anyone tell you to stop chopping kid?" He prompts Coby who squeaks and goes back to work. Zeff sniffs approvingly, kids in his kitchen quickly learnt to rubberneck and work at the same time.

"Well, I thought I'd deliver your post." Zoro shoots back. Zeff turns to examine Patty's carrots, checking that Zoro's attempt on Patty's life hadn't distracted Carne enough to burn them, he only keeps half an ear on his sons' conversation as he does so.

"Oh, you've finally given up this blacksmith gig and followed your dreams to become a mailman huh? I'm very happy for you." Sanji says mockingly.

"You bastard!" Zoro snarls. Zeff ignores the sound of fighting as he examines the carrots, they're not singed but they need more sesame seeds though. He stares at them pointedly for a few minutes until Carne catches on and adds them. Satisfied he returns to Coby and notes that Zoro and Sanji have stopped fighting, they never fight seriously in the kitchen anyway, he disapproves of it too much.

"Here, it's for you." Zoro grins, holding out the letter.

"I can read, genius. I'm busy, I don't care what kind of weird letter you signed me up for, and obviously you did it because it was delivered to your house instead of here." Sanji retorts and he blitzes through chopping an onion with his superior knives.

"Just open it!" The half pint snarls, smacking Sanji in the side of the head with the envelope.

"Why don't you just tell me what it says? I can see that you steamed it open, read it and then resealed it." Sanji smiles smugly, Zoro's agitated looks tells Zeff that Sanji's accusation is true.

"Just- here!" Zoro says exasperatedly, shoving the envelope into Sanji's chest. The blonde takes it with a huff and opens it, sliding a thick letter out. Zeff watches with growing interest, the paper looks fancy and there are lots of sheets in that little envelope, a leaflet falls out of the bottom and Zeff picks it up when he recognises the logo.

The leaflet reads "what to expect when you start your course", it's in French though with English text below it and the logo at the top is for Le Cordon Bleu, the best French culinary school in the world. A qualification from there frequently sees chefs leap right to the position of head chef in any restaurant they choose. Zeff steps in and reads excitedly over Sanji's shoulder, it's a letter of acceptance into the school!

"Sanji, you didn't tell me you signed up for this!" Zeff says happily.

"I didn't." Sanji snaps out, his voice as deadly as Zoro's steel and his grip on the paper threateningly tight. Before Zeff can question it though Sanji throws the letter to the floor and lunges for Zoro. His other son doesn't react quick enough though and Sanji's shoe catches Zoro right in the jaw at full power. Zoro flies across the room, smashing into a counter top and only missing getting scalding oil on him due to Carne's quick reflexes with his pan.

Zoro spits blood onto the floor and looks up at Sanji with wide startled eyes, he has to move quickly though because Sanji is running at him again with murder in his eyes.

"I'll fucking KILL you!" Sanji screeches, sounding every bit like he means it. Zeff has never heard Sanji threaten Zoro quite like that. Zoro scrambles out of range quickly, clearly seeing just how much Sanji means business.

"Sanji, calm down!" Zoro implores, ducking another kick and only just making it.

"How COULD you?!" Sanji yells and kicks out again, Zoro can't duck that one and it forced to block it painfully with his forearm.

"I'm only trying to help! It'll be good for you!" Zoro yelps, backing up quickly and ducking around a rack that Sanji leaves a huge dent in.

"Is this your way of trying to- to- I'll destroy you for this!" the blonde howls and catches Zoro in the ribs with his shin. Zoro cleverly grabs Sanji's leg and pins it to his side.

"I'm not doing this to hurt you! It'll be good for you!" Zoro insists desperately. Sanji screeches with rage and hauls himself on his trapped leg as he swings a fist into Zoro's jaw, just where he punched him earlier. It's only that show of complete insanity that snaps Zeff out of his shocked state.

"Break up you two!" He shouts, coming between them and hauling Sanji off of Zoro. The blacksmith is clutching at his face in pain. Zeff turns to Sanji, about to ask what the hell is going on when he sees his son's face. Tears are streaming down Sanji's reddened cheeks and with one choked out sob Sanji flees upstairs, slamming the flat door behind him as he goes.

"Sanji, Sanji wait!" Zoro calls after him and sprints past Zeff up the stairs.

"…the fuck just happened?" Patty asks to the resounding horrified silence of the kitchen. Neither of them have ever fought like they were trying to kill each other before, or rather, like Sanji was trying to kill Zoro. Zeff stares around his kitchen in horror as he takes in the damage to equipment that Sanji has wrought, neither of the boys would ever willingly do that normally. And Sanji used his hands to punch Zoro as well! What on earth is going on?

He heads upstairs to find Zoro furiously hammering on Sanji's bedroom door, the bedroom that they boys used to share.

"Sanji please, I've told you it's not like that! I'm just trying to help you!" Zoro shouts through the door.

"You're a fucking liar and I hate you! How could you do this to me?!" Sanji's muffled voice comes back through the door.

"I didn't do it to hurt you, Sanji, please… open the door. Can we talk about this?" Zoro pleads, combing a hand through his hair frustrated.

"No, just leave! It's what you're good at!" Sanji shouts accusingly with an accompanying smash in the room which sounds like the bookcase meeting its end. Zoro hesitates and Zeff doesn't have to strain his ears to hear the sound of Sanji sobbing violently.

Zoro groans unhappily and turns his back on the door, sliding down the wood until he's sitting on the floor.

"What have you done Zoro?" Zeff demands in a growl, Zoro's eyes widen and his back snaps straight, he knows he's in trouble.

"Nothing bad." Zoro insists earnestly.

"Sanji doesn't seem to think so, he's not been that distraught since you cut him out of your life last time for him abandoning you for that girl." He accuses. Though he felt really bad for Zoro when that happened, he saw first-hand just how heartbroken the poor kid was after all, Sanji felt the pain of it too. The little eggplant walked around for so long looking like someone had cut open his soul and taken a piece, he's not cried like this since. He appreciates that Zoro has trust and abandonment issues from his past, he had a pretty fucked up life, but so did Sanji and neither of them deserved the pain that they inflicted on the other. He'd thought that they'd both learned from that but apparently not.

Zoro squirms uncomfortably, he doesn't like people bringing that up so Zeff make sure to do so whenever he's really angry with Zoro.

"It's not like that. Sanji deserves the chance to go to this school, he's got incredible talent and he deserves the chance to really develop it, he needs to learn from more masters than just you Zeff." Zoro insists, looking up at him from the floor.

"I agree, but Sanji doesn't seem to think so, why is he so upset?" he frowns, it just doesn't make sense.

"I… I applied for him. I took pictures of his work under the pretence of photographing the knives in action and sent recommendations in, old menus, that kind of thing. I didn't tell him because I knew he'd say no if I asked him to." The half pint admits uncomfortably.

"So you lied." He concludes.

"Well, yes." Zoro admits sheepishly.

"Why doesn't he want to go? What's so bad about this?" Zeff presses.

"Well, he has stuff… important stuff, that he thinks he'll lose if he leaves." His kid answers, squirming under the scrutiny.

"Such as?" he asks sitting down with a groan that sounds too much like an old man for his liking.

"Well… stuff. This place… you… me." The half pint adds that last one in a quiet voice.

"He's being an idiot, nothing will change!" Zoro says shouting that last part through the door. Zoro winces as a shattering sound emanates from the door, Sanji probably threw his lamp at it.

"What are you not telling me about this?" he asks with a sigh, he's too old for this kind of shit. Zoro deliberately avoids his gaze and puts his hand inside his mouth, he winces and swears around his fist for a second before withdrawing a bloodied hand with a whole molar in it. Sanji must have kicked him pretty fucking hard to knock a tooth out and Zoro's jaw is already starting to swell considerably.

"You don't need all of your adult teeth right?" Zoro asks absently and awkwardly puts it in his pocket before wiping his hand on his trousers, leaving big bloodied streaks.

"Zoro. Stop avoiding the subject." He orders.

"I'm sorry old man, but it's complicated. And I'm not about to risk making this worse by telling you, you'll have to ask Sanji. Just… let me know when he comes out of there please? I'd go in myself but he's pulled the wardrobe across the door and I can't move it." Zoro sighs as he stands up. Zeff doesn't get up but instead glowers at his adopted son, he'll promise nothing until he knows more about this.

"Fine." Zoro mutters, his shoulders dropping in defeat as he turns to leave.

"Go see Chopper about that tooth or your whole jaw might get infected." He says quietly as Zoro reaches the front door.

"I will." Zoro says nodding solemnly. Zeff says nothing else and returns his gaze to the shut door.

"Let me in Sanji, it's just me. Zoro's gone." He adds as an afterthought. Sanji ignores him but he can hear the little eggplant crying quietly within his room.

Zeff goes downstairs and ignores the obvious staring of his staff. He heads to the garage and pulls out the big extending ladder and takes it into the alleyway under Sanji's window and leans it against the wall. Careful on his fake leg he takes the steps one at a time until he's almost at head height with the window. Before he can open it though Sanji appears at the window ready to scream at him- presumably thinking that he's Zoro.

"Old man! You shouldn't be on there with your leg!" Sanji gasps at him.

"Well I can't very well be on it without it, can I?" He snaps back, not wanting to admit that the ladder actually feels a lot less steady than he'd like.

"Shitty old geezer." Sanji grouses and hauls Zeff into his room by his arms. Zeff regains his footing on the floor, glad to be on solid ground again. Sanji throws himself face down on the bed again, leaving Zeff to take in the devastation of the room. Sanji has smashed almost everything except his wardrobe which is indeed dragged across the door his bed and his mirror. Everything else is either broken, dented or strewn across the room.

"Talk, shitty kid." He orders, sitting down on the bed.

"I don't want to, just go away." Sanji sniffs, curling away from him to face the wall.

"I didn't ask what you wanted, I told you to tell me. Zoro refused to, he said it'd make it worse if he told me instead of you. So talk." He snarls, jabbing Sanji in the side.

"Fucking cowardly bastard." Sanji growls quietly with real venom in his tone. Zeff sits in expectant silence. That tactic often works on Sanji, be quiet enough and stare enough and eventually the eggplant will get anxious enough to fill the silence. Never worked on Zoro though, that kid could stay quiet forever.

"It's not about getting accepted, I'm pleased that they want me. I just don't want to go." Sanji says quietly to the wall.

"So turn the place down, what's the problem?" He huffs irritably.

"It's not about the place! It's… it's about Zoro trying to make me go. He wants to go back to Japan, he's talked about it lately, and him doing this… making me leave…" Sanji whines and sniffles.

"So you'll write to each other again, it won't be hard to go back to that, you two were really dedicated to it before." He frowns at Sanji, not getting what the problem is here. Sure they'll miss each other but it wasn't like they couldn't just write or call, hell, they even had video calls now. What was the big deal?

"Things are different now." The eggplant hedges vaguely.

Zeff lets that hang in the silence for a while, letting Sanji look more and more uncomfortable. Eventually the brat rolls onto his back and props himself up on his elbows to face him, though he doesn't make eye contact. He chews his lip and fists his hands in his bedspread as if he's holding on for dear life.

"We- it's… I…" Sanji mumbles nervously and looking everywhere in the room but at him.

"I- I love him. Not as a brother or anything, I mean I really love him. I'm in love with him, we're in love. Or I thought we were, until Zoro decided to break up with me by sending me to France!" Sanji adds with a snarl at the end. Sanji winces and closes his eyes as soon as he's done speaking, as if he expects a slap in the face. Old issues coming to the surface again then.

"I know that, idiot. I've known about you two being in love since you were kids, Zoro's loved you since he met you and you not that long after him. I'm not stupid." Zeff snorts. Sanji looks up at him with wide shocked eyes, his mouth opening and shutting again in shock.

"How long have you two been together?" He asks curiously.

"About six months." Sanji mutters, flushing across his cheeks and looking away embarrassed.

"Ah, the knives." He grins, so his plan did work!

"It wasn't like that!" Sanji squawks indignantly, turning beetroot red in a way that tells Zeff that it was exactly like that.

"I still don't see the problem." He points out with a smirk at Sanji's embarrassment.

"We only just got together, we're still figuring out how this whole thing should work, we've not even told anyone… except you I guess. And now Zoro wants to leave, how else am I supposed to take that?" Sanji sighs, leaning forwards and hugging his knees.

"Zoro's going back to Japan. He promised he was back for good and now he's leaving again, I said that I'd come with this time but he told me that I couldn't come- he said I'd be a distraction and that I'd get bored. It's a chance for him to train under Mihawk, for two years." The little eggplant says bitterly, picking at the hem on his trousers.

Zeff raises his eyebrows, ever since he was a kid Zoro's idolised this foreign swordsman who makes his own samurai swords. As Zoro has insisted many times with eyes filled with wonder, Mihawk is the best in the world. If Zoro was really offered an opportunity to study under a master like that, it'd be huge. Especially since from what Zoro has said before the guy simply doesn't do that kind of thing usually. He frowns at the little eggplant, Sanji should be happy for Zoro.

"I don't mind him studying, I'm happy for him, really proud actually. I just… I don't want to lose him, not after everything. Being away from him before was awful and it'd be even worse now. And he was just so vehemently against me coming with him, he said I couldn't come, that I didn't understand. And worse still… I know that Ace is going to Japan at the same time, they're not going together but I'd be an idiot to think that they're not going to see each other while they're both there." The blonde adds unhappily.

Zeff frowns and tries to remember. He remembers Luffy's big brother Ace, those boys damn near cleaned his cupboards out when they were last here together. He seems to recall Zoro taking quite a shine to Ace too, he'd thought it might be the first steps to Zoro showing interest in someone other than Sanji, something he'd desperately hoped for at the time. He wasn't sure that anything had come from it and Zoro still never looked at anyone quite the way that he looked at Sanji, but he can tell from his son's heartbroken look that Zoro and Ace did have some history.

"You think he's leaving you for that guy and moving halfway across the world to do it? Really?" Zeff snorts in disbelief.

"I don't know! But I know he's lying to me! He swore never to leave me here on my own and now he's done this, if I go to France then he's not technically leaving me here and the way he's keeping this information about Ace from me! I- I hate him!" Sanji wails dramatically and throws himself face down on his bed again.

Zeff massages his aching temples and reminds himself silently of all the reasons that adopting Sanji and Zoro was a good idea, because right now it doesn't seem like it. They're good boys overall, he loves them, he won't kill Sanji for being a moron or Zoro for being an oblivious idiot, or vice versa. He tries to remember that all teenagers are dumb and irrational and usually they grow out of it. Even so he can't remember being this chronically moronic and over dramatic when he was nineteen.

"I think," he says after a moment, "that you're giving Zoro a little too much credit. He's not a master manipulator, eggplant. He's as cunning as a sponge cake. My guess would be that he doesn't want you bored and lonely in a country that you don't speak the language of for two years with only Zoro for your entertainment when he's supposed to be focusing. You probably reacted like this at the idea and he's tried to make it up to you by giving you something he thought you wanted and trying to help out. He's just a tactless idiot about it. No conspiracy, no master plan, just Zoro being Zoro." He sighs wearily.

"And Ace?" Sanji accuses through his pillow.

"Do you even know that Zoro knows about that?" he reasons. Sanji remains suspiciously quiet, that would be a no then. Stupid fucking brats, the pair of them.

"Calm your tits then go talk to Zoro in a couple of hours, he should be back from seeing Chopper by then. You kicked a tooth right out of his head." He says and stands up from Sanji's bed. He crosses Sanji's room and hauls the furniture blocking the door out of the way and pulls the door open.

"And you're paying to replace this shit you know!" He barks out and goes to slam the door behind him, but before he can manage a small voice calls out his name. The same small lost little voice that Sanji had when he first got here.

He looks back at Sanji who is looking at him with big worried eyes.

"Are you… okay with this? With me and Zoro… you know?" Sanji asks in a mumbled voice.

Ah. That. He wonders if this was why Sanji and Zoro hadn't told anyone about their new relationship, how did they think he'd react?

"I've known for years that you two have loved each other, I knew about Zoro long before I knew how you felt. It's… odd. You're both my kids so it's weird." He admits truthfully.

"But… one of the things about being a parent is that you want your kid to be happy and if this makes you both happy, most of the time at least, then I'm happy for you." He says with a sigh. Some tension in Sanji's shoulders seems to release in one go and the boy smiles. He supposes that he should stop thinking of Sanji as a boy, as a kid, but he'll always be a little kid to Zeff.

"I know I don't say it much old man but… you're a great dad, you know that? We're both… we're really lucky that you adopted us." Sanji says quietly, looking up at him with a soft expression.

"You… shitty son. Don't say things like that." He sniffs, turning away and blinking any treacherous moisture out of the way. In all his years with his kids neither of them have ever called him dad, not once. Goddamnit, what's the eggplant trying to do to him talking like that?!

"Aw, what's the matter dad got something in your eye?" Sanji laughs, hopping up off of the bed and poking Zeff in the back, never one to miss an opportunity to piss him right off.

"You'll have my fucking foot in your eye if you don't shut the hell up! And clean this place up! I'm not paying you for tonight either and you're working doubles tomorrow to cover your shift! And go see Zoro and apologise like a man, you little bastard!" He snarls and stomps out of the room, slamming the door behind him, muting Sanji's outrageous laughter behind the door.

Little bastard. Calling him dad of all things.

Sanji in fact does sneak out of the house later and Zeff notices that when Sanji shows up in the kitchen the next morning there's a hickey just visible on his neck above the collar of his chef's whites. Sanji accepts the offer at Le Cordon Bleu and less than a week later he and Zoro are both all packed up and ready to fly separately across the world to their separate destinations.

He drives to the airport with both boys sitting quietly in the back seat, there's silence the whole time but Sanji is frantically checking something on both his and Zoro's phones, ringing one from the other and then the other way around. The phones are pretty expensive things as it happens, equipped with video whatsit and GPS, the poor blonde idiot probably thinks it'll stop Zoro getting lost. Zeff doesn't quite have the heart to point out that giving Zoro a map is not going to stop him getting lost, this is the kid who routinely confuses "north" and "up".

They both check onto their respective flights, Sanji's is an hour before Zoro's so all three of them head to Sanji's part of the airport first and loiter around in the shared waiting area. They talk about entirely inconsequential things like the weather, speculation on how the plane food is going to be (awful of course) and mocking the paltry moustaches of other men in the waiting room. Though that last one might just be him, after all, can you really call something a moustache if you can't braid it? No, you can't. Fools.

They walk Sanji to his gate when he's called, or as far as they can go anyway, in complete silence. Zeff wonders how he's managed to raise two utter idiots, he can feel the weight of all the things the two of them aren't saying. It's like they're playing chicken, see who can hold out the longest before cracking and choking up.

"Well, I've got to go." Sanji says, patting himself down and checking that he's got everything, nodding and turning to go.

"Have a safe flight eggplant." Zeff grunts with a nod.

"Try not to crash the car on your way home shitty-geezer." Sanji grins at him and walks off.

"Hey, cook." Zoro shouts suddenly, taking a few hesitant steps in his direction. Sanji freezes and looks over at Zoro with wide eyes.

"I'll… I'll see you later." The half pint says softly.

Sanji's bottom lip trembles and his whole body seems to shake.

"God-fucking-damnit Zoro! You swore we were gonna do this without crying!" Sanji chokes, clutching at his face with his back to them.

"I'm not crying." Zoro points out smugly.

Sanji turns around and glowers at Zoro for several straight seconds, Zoro however has had an entire lifetime of growing up under that glare and it doesn't seem to affect him much now. Perhaps realising this Sanji takes a different tactic, he grabs Zoro by the back of the neck and smashes their mouths together in a way that actually makes Zeff more than a little uncomfortable to be around. After a dazed second Zoro leaps back like a cat thrown in a bathtub full of water and stares up at Zeff in horror.

Zeff looks from Sanji's smug face to Zoro's terrified one and puts two and two together.

"You didn't tell him that you told me did you?" Zeff asks, looking from one son to the other.

"Gee, did that slip my mind?" Sanji says in faux innocence with a completely sick grin on his face.

"You bastard!" Zoro yells and swings for him. Sanji ducks behind Zeff only for Zoro to follow, leading to a very limited chase around Zeff's perimeter. Zeff didn't like this game when the boys were little and he doesn't like it now, somehow it always ends up with him getting hit somehow. He reaches out a hand and grabs Zoro's face in it and sharply pulls back, cracking Zoro and Sanji's heads together.

"Knock it off brats. Sanji, go get on your plane, Zoro lets go to your gate. Now say goodbye!" He orders them.

Zoro sullenly rubs his sore face, he's still got a black eye from where Sanji kicked him in the cheek and he knows that his jaw is still sore too. Sanji meanwhile is hissing and rubbing his forehead.

"You'll call me, right?" He asks Sanji with a concerned look.

"Every day, like I said dumbass." The blonde agrees with a roll of his eyes as he picks his backpack up off the floor.

"Okay. See you later then." Zoro nods with a small smile.

"See you later." Sanji echoes. Zeff frowns, didn't he tell them to say goodbye? Stupid brats.

Zoro shuffles awkwardly but then evidently things better of it and pulls Sanji in for a considerably tamer kiss. Zeff thinks that he might hear a whispered confession of love go back and forth there, but he's certainly not listening, it's none of his business after all.

Without another look back and a casual wave that very poorly hides how unhappy he is, Sanji walks through security and away from both of them. A forlorn looking Zoro grabs his own bag and follows Zeff to his flight to Japan.

"Right, try not to get lost before you get on the plane, make sure it's the right one. And call me as well sometimes yeah?" He sighs, stopping Zoro before his gate and tucking the label back into his shirt, such a scruffy kid.

"Zeeeeff." Zoro whines, struggling out of his hands like a squirmy little kid. Zoro gives him an unimpressed look and Zeff has to take a step back for a second and accept that his two kids really all grown up. They're both chasing their dreams, finding love (apparently in each other) and travelling the world. Not bad for two social service rejects that barely made it through school for one reason or another. But now they're men, he supposes.

"Right, I'll call. Later old man, thanks for the ride." Zoro calls over his shoulder as he heads towards one of the gates.

"Wrong gate, half pint." Zeff calls after a few seconds, causing Zoro abruptly alter direction and head for the right gate this time.

He laughs to himself and heads back to the car. After paying an extortionate amount to leave the airport in it he drives back to the Baratie and parks. He heads into the restaurant and finds that it's not all gone to hell while he's been away, good. He looks over what Coby is doing now and very quickly realises that all of the other staff are staring at him.

"What?" He demands, looking at Patty. He's been a bad liar his whole life so he's the best bet. He levels his best death glare and he predictably crumbles.

"We just thought that- you know… with Zoro and Sanji having flown the nest that you might be a little… down. Or something." Patty hedges, a murmur of cautious nonspecific agreement ripples through the kitchen.

"Why would I be down? The boys are happy, doing what makes them happy, that's the point of being a parent. Anyway, now no one's going to be borrowing my car, drinking my good booze, stinking my rooms out with smoke, trashing my furniture, getting into debt that I have to fix, it's going to be great. Peaceful even." He grins broadly.

For some reason his staff look sceptical.

"In fact, I'm going to go have a bath that no one else is hogging and drink that nice wine I've got that no one else is stealing." He announces and goes upstairs to do just that.

The first glass of wine is amazing. He's in a peaceful bath with no one hammering on the door about this or that or claiming that they want a soak in the bath, it's great. He gets out of the bath and gets into his comfy dressing down and has a second glass of lovely wine all to himself. No one else is whining for a glass, there's no bickering or mocking of drinking choices, no squabbles over the TV channel. There's no stampeding arguments held in pursuit from room to room, there's no noise of smashing furniture or loud laughter or… or anything.

He slides down into the sofa and stares across the big empty room. Across the wall are pictures. There's a picture of Sanji perfectly tossing a crepe in the air, the photo was timed just right so you can see it turn and the look of utter concentration on his face and in the background the look of sheer awe on Zoro's little face. There's a picture of Zoro and Sanji at the beach with Sanji wearing a massive amount of seaweed on his head pretending to be Zoro with a very pissed off looking ten year old Zoro at his side. Then there is photo finish after photo finish of the boys at various sports days, one would always win but the other would always be just a fraction behind and then work that much harder next time, in fact the pictures cycled as the years went on with one winning one time and the next the other.

He downs the rest of his glass of wine with a sniff, it must be hayfever season early this year, his sinuses are acting up, his eyes are probably even a little red. From the pollen. God it's quiet.

No sooner has the thought crossed his mind than the peace is disturbed by a loud screeching from outside. With an indigent huff he pours himself a third glass of wine and goes outside to investigate. Over by the bins a two young cats, barely out of being kittens, both scrawny enough to make them look like furry xylophones with tails. They're hissing and scrapping with each other, causing one hell of a racket behind the bins. Zeff glances into the bin near him and spies some tuna that Coby foolishly burnt that morning before he left with the boys. He pulls it from the bin and tosses it on the ground between them.

For a moment there's a furry standoff reminiscent of an old Clint Eastwood movie, after that though both felines hungrily hurl themselves at the fish, ripping it apart and inhaling it as fast as possible with no fighting at all. Well, that's that racket solved. Now, back to that peace and quiet that he'd been so looking forward to.

A quiet plaintive mew stops him in his tracks. He looks down to see two pairs of big hopeful eyes looking up at him. The smaller skinnier cat, probably some Siamese thing that would be elegant looking almost if it wasn't so dirtied up, steps towards him with another hopeful mew. The other juvenile cat/kitten thing hangs back a little with big green eyes turned on him, that one's some kind of brown fuzzy cat that he's never seen replicated before. A tortoiseshell maybe? It almost looks like it's got plant life growing on it and- oh no. No no no.

"Beat it kits, I don't do this stray thing anymore. Go fend for yourselves. Shoo." He says quickly, recognising all too well where this is going. Before any huge kitten eyes can sway him further he stomps back inside, slamming the door behind him and heads upstairs to finish his bottle of wine.

He sits to watch masterchef but it's not quite the same without Sanji's scathing criticism of the judges and the contestants, so he changes to some old film, but that's some story about knights and swords and… didn't he want to read his book anyway? Turning off the TV he picks up his book that he'd meant to get around to reading but Sanji kept borrowing whenever he wanted it.

He settles into the story and before long time is passing, the soothing sound of rain beginning outside lulls him into the story. That is of course until a sound snaps him out of it, it's… probably nothing, just a squeaking door or the building shifting, creaking pipes perhaps. He scrunches his brow and gets back into it. The pathetic mewling, and yes, it is mewling, pulls him out of it. With a growl he stomps over to the window and pulls it open. Looking down he can see the two pathetic skinny little kittens huddled together out of the rain in a cardboard box as far as is possible apart from each other whilst still being in the same box.

Knowing a losing battle when he sees one he heads downstairs, upends the box and brings it back up with him. It takes all of about three seconds for the first one to jump out, the Siamese thing, though hot on its tail is the other brown one. His conscience clear Zeff goes back to his book, to the familiar sounds of small feet chasing each other around the house and the occasional smash of a vase or thud of a collision with furniture.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I know I marked this story as complete but I suddenly got bit with feels and inspiration for it after like… two years, so prepare for some more chapters!

 

Sanji loves Paris. He loves the lights at night, he loves the food, the air of the place… he just loves all of it. The school is amazing and though he’s staying in student housing and living in a shoebox of a room that makes his bedroom at the Baratie seem huge he’s loving it.

He is however incredibly stupidly angry.

“You said that you’d call every day you stupid bastard!” Sanji snarls at his phone.

“It’s been a WEEK!” He roars at it.

The phone stays meekly blank and showing him only the time in sad little numbers. It’s not his phone’s fault, it’s Zoro’s. How the hell can Zoro have forgotten him _this_ fast? He checked that Zoro’s flight had landed okay, stilling his fear about Zoro’s plane having crashed into the ocean or onto the tarmac and thus killing everyone. It’s not even as if their old man has heard from Zoro and Sanji hasn’t. None of their friends have either. Literally no one has spoken to him.

It rings then and there and in his shock Sanji jolts and his phone flies up in the air. He scrambles to catch it and stares at the screen. Zoro. He picks up but before he can say anything Zoro’s voice is babbling breathlessly into his ear.

“I’m so sorry Sanji this is literally the first time that I could call you!” Zoro bursts out. Sanji grits his teeth.

“The first time that you could call me in a WEEK?! You think that my schedule isn’t busy too? I still managed to leave you a voicemail every day you shitty-” Sanji snaps furiously.

“There’s no phone reception on the island, none at all!” Zoro says hastily.

“What?” Sanji asks incredulously.

“Mihawk lives on this shit spooky island with no phone signal at all, no landline either. I had to beg Mihawk’s daughter to take me to the mainland on the boat so that I could call you at all, you have no idea how many favours I owe her right now.” Zoro grumbles and despite himself Sanji laughs. That’s Zoro for you, he sounds the same when he’s talking about Nami too.

“How does he do anything without phones? You could have emailed me you know, he must have internet at least, right?” Sanji asks in shock. Who could possibly live without phones?

“I have no fucking clue. And no, there’s no internet either, not yet. It’s only because I’ve got there that Perona and I have made any progress in getting internet on there, it’s probably going to be working today or tomorrow. I can call you online or something.” Zoro says with a despairing sigh.

“That’d be good. A bunch of the guys here use skype to call their family, we could do that.” Sanji suggests, flipping his laptop open and searching for the website.

“Yeah, ok.” Zoro responds.

Sanji sticks his tongue out slightly as he concentrates, holding his phone to his ear with his shoulder while he fills in his details on the website and downloads the program. He flicks to his email and watches as the account activation email pings in then follows the link and…

“I’m really sorry.” Zoro says in a quiet voice.

Sanji nearly drops his phone. Zoro sounds so _so_ remorseful and Sanji melts a little, Zoro always hates letting people down, Sanji especially.

“It’s fine marimo, I was worried is all.” He assures him, putting his laptop to the side and settling down fully on his bed.

“That didn’t sound like it was all.” The other man snorts down the phone.

“Fuck you I was mad too, but I’m not going to blame you for shit that’s not your fault.” He says with a roll of his eyes.

“Wow, that’s new. Are you sure you’re the Sanji that I grew up with because-” Zoro starts teasingly but Sanji interrupts.

“Oh hey, it’s like magic, now I’m mad at you again!” Sanji exclaims with false excitement.

“That’s more like it.” Zoro says and Sanji can practically see the dumb grin on his face.

“I fucking miss you so much already you stupid bastard.” Sanji sighs, shutting his eyes and trying to imagine Zoro’s face.

“Yeah, you too.” Zoro responds in a slightly fond tone.

“So, aside from medieval in terms of communication, how are you finding it there?” Sanji asks, staring up at the ceiling.

“It’s really tough. Mihawk is incredibly talented but he doesn’t give lessons like you get, he’ll leave me with something and then let me work it out for myself, which is good but frustrating.” Zoro says with a sigh. Sanji smiles because he knows Zoro, he practically gets off on challenges like that. Not to mention if he’s studying under his hero he’ll work even harder.

“How about you? How’s France?” Zoro asks him.

“I LOVE it! Paris is so pretty and the classes are amazing, I’m making friends and oh god Zoro, the _language_. Oh, I know I studied like crazy to learn it before coming here but within a few days it’s just snapped and I swear I understand 80% of it, at least!” He exclaims in glee.

His mood comes down a little though at the thought that was lingering at the back of his mind and he voices it to Zoro because if anyone will understand properly it’s Zoro. With this kind of thing Zoro has always understood.

“My mother used to speak French to me.” He says softly and for a moment Zoro doesn’t say anything.

“That’s ok.” Zoro says quietly. And he doesn’t mean that it’s okay that Sanji’s mother spoke French and that it may have been the only good thing she ever did for him and god how can he say that after he watched her get killed and-

“It’s ok.” Zoro repeats and Sanji’s muscles become a little less tense.

“I’d forgotten that. Until I got here and heard a woman speak it I’d forgotten. Even when I was back home and studying it I didn’t remember.” Sanji breathes. How could he have forgotten that? He knows he was just four when it happened and he hid under the table and her blood seeped over to him but he should have remembered something as fundamental as the language she spoke.

“You don’t have to remember everything about everyone in your family. You don’t remember every movie we ever watched, or what I was wearing the first time we met or all of the colours our bedroom was ever painted in.” Zoro says simply and Sanji breathes in, his breath hitching a little as he does it, but Zoro is right. It was a long, long, time ago and there are bits that he’s forgotten for his own sanity. It’s okay.

“You know that I’ve had five people offer to buy my knives from me.” Sanji says, changing the topic. Zoro goes with it though, of course he would.

“Did they freak out when you told them they wouldn’t fit because they’re tailored for you alone?” Zoro asks and Sanji can just hear the smug grin in his voice.

Sanji rolls over on his bed and flicks open his knife case, running his fingers over the steel and the waves etches into the handles.

“Yeah. I’ve got my own pet blacksmith making my gear. They about shit themselves with jealousy.” Sanji says with pride and closes the case again, careful to protect them.

“Hey, do me a favour and find a scanner or something and photocopy your hand and send it to me. When I get a bit better I want to make you new ones with all of the things that I’m going to learn here.” Zoro asks him easily.

Sanji groans and shudders at the thought, excitement running down his spine.

“Don’t say shit like that Zoro, you know what it does to me.” Sanji breathes, his eyes flicking to his knife case again. He could just take a peek maybe, another reminder of Zoro’s hard work that’s all for him. He just looked but he probably shouldn’t see them now, not like this.

“What? You mean thinking about my steel in your hands just for you?” Zoro purrs at him obscenely.

“Zoro!” Sanji says in a strangled voice.

“It’s bad enough that I’ve not heard from you in a week, we’re going to be apart for years, can you at least try not to get me to beg you to get on the first plane here and fuck me already because you’re talking like that?” He hisses desperately.

“Sorry, you’ll have to do without me. Call me when you do though, you might be loud but even you’re not loud enough that I can hear you from this far away.” Zoro laughs, but Sanji can hear what Zoro’s doing, making a joke out of something that he really wants so that Sanji won’t call him on it if he disagrees. Sanji however does not disagree.

“Skype has video, you can _watch_ as well as listen.” Sanji says with a wicked grin on his face and a frankly filthy tone of voice. He hears the strangled little sound that comes out of Zoro and relishes it. Making Zoro lose control has always been one of his favourite things to do, it’s just become a lot more sexual lately.

“Well, I need to go because I’m in public and you’re doing that. Also Perona said that she would skin me alive if I got back from the mainland without bringing her candy.” Zoro says with a thick sounding swallow.

“I’ll text you my skype details.” Sanji says brightly.

“You… yes. You do that. See you soon.” The other man says, sounding a little dazed, even now refusing to say goodbye. They never say goodbye.

“See you later Zoro.” Sanji replies with a grin and employing all of the double entendre that he can squeeze into those four words. There’s a short pause where Sanji able to hear the bustle in the background and muted Japanese being spoken in the background.

“Love you.” Zoro murmurs and Sanji gasps a little. Even now hearing those two words makes Sanji’s heart thump, Sanji moves to say it back but Zoro has hung up like the tactless idiot that he is.

“Love you too, moron.” Sanji says to the dial tone in his ear. With a happy sigh he flicks his laptop open again and copies his skype details down onto his phone, sending it to Zoro right away before he gets back on that island with no signal. He does not want to go another week without talking to Zoro again.

With that done Sanji shuts his laptop and puts it back on his nightstand. He falls back onto his bed and is well aware that he’s grinning like an idiot. A thought occurs to him and he leans down again, flicking the case of his knives open again. Between them and talking to Zoro… well… Sanji settles back on his bed and flicks the button to his jeans open. He may as well have fun before Zoro gets his own internet going. He scrambles one handed for his phone and just when he’s done he snaps a picture and texts it to Zoro. There’s a short pause before:

_I hate you. Also I’m never deleting that picture._

Sanji laughs to himself and feels like maybe being away from Zoro won’t be too bad after all. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to EveryoneLikesPancakes for the chapter idea for this one!

Zoro sits with his heart in his throat as Mihawk inspects his blade. He tilts it this way and that in the light to see the pattern on the blade, he flips it and balances the blade on his finger, testing the weight and balance, he swipes it through the air a few times.

“Would you sell this?” Mihawk asks, not even looking at Zoro, just staring at the blade still.

“Yes.” Zoro answers firmly.

“Why?” Mihawk questions, finally looking at him with those piercing eyes of his.

“Because I’ve got bills to pay, a workshop to keep running and a father that I don’t want to bankrupt by having to cover my ass.” Zoro says a little sharply. This man lives in a fucking castle on his own private island. Admittedly a shit spooky island with no phone signal but still.

“A fair point.” Mihawk concedes with a tilt of his head and Zoro relaxes a little.

“If money was no question, would you sell this, put your name on it as yours?” the man asks, handing the blade back to Zoro.

Zoro considers his question. He looks at the blade. It’s good work, damn good work, but it’s not as good as some of the things that he’s made and not as good as Sanji’s knives which he’d put his name on in a heartbeat. Hell it was Sanji’s knives that had got him here.

“No.” Zoro answers after a long minute.

“Then don’t show it to me. Study this.” Mihawk tells him, going to the wall and taking a sword off of a holder in the brickwork. He hands it to Zoro and leaves in a swish of his black cloak.

“Can I use it?” He calls after Mihawk, darting out of the room to do so. Mihawk laughs softly, more of an amused ‘hm’ than a full laugh.

“I wondered if you’d ask. Yes you may, but if you break it I will make you regret it.” His master says and walks off.

Zoro takes the sword back to his desk, the one where he studies, reads books and draws up his designs. He sighs and taps on the sword. He looks at his phone, it’s two in the afternoon so for Sanji it’s seven in the morning. He might be at an early class but…

He picks the phone up and calls him on skype. The wifi in this room is shitty but it’s still okay for a call.

“Hey.” Sanji says as he picks up.

“Talk to me, what’re you doing?” He asks with a sigh, shutting his eyes and wishing that he was with Sanji.

“Mm, I’m in line buying breakfast on the way to class. Hold on.” Sanji says and lapses into quick French as he gives his order or pays or whatever.

“Okay I’m back.” Sanji says calmly and he hears the chime of a bell, probably Sanji leaving the bakery or wherever he is.

“Talk to me.” Zoro repeats.

This is something that they do. They don’t always have something to say to each other, but it’s nice just being part of the other’s day, getting a bit of their lives and being there in a way that they can’t physically.

“Mmm, it’s a little cold out, a bit foggy but I think it’ll be warmer this afternoon. I’ve got a croissant and coffee and I’m on my way to class, it’s seafood this morning.” Sanji narrates as he walks.

“That’s your favourite.” Zoro responds.

“Yup. And you?” Sanji questions him back.

“Studying one of Mihawk’s blades, trying to work out how he’s so much better than me. It’s beautiful work.” Zoro says with a touch of sadness, unsheathing the blade a little and looking at how it catches the light.

“Well what’re you talking to me for? All you think about is swords so go rub your nerd brain all over it and fix the problem, that’s what you’re there for, idiot.” Sanji orders him, making Zoro smirk at the wall. That’s the Sanji way of encouraging him, Zeff would say the same too.

“Forgive me for wanting to talk to you.” He shoots back sarcastically.

“Bullshit, you’re procrastinating. I was going to send you a message anyway after class so this is good. I’m going out tonight for a party, it’s one of the guy’s birthdays so I’ll be out all night. We’re starting drinking early because, you know, Europe. So I won’t be able to call you like we planned.” Sanji tells him. Zoro nods to himself, Sanji’s always been flawless about cancelling their plans, even since their stupid falling out as kids. Zoro regrets that so much now, it was petty and stupid but in a dumb way it probably brought them closer together too.

“Glad I called you now then. Get to class, loser.” Zoro says with a laugh and hears Sanji laugh as well.

“Okay, see you later.” Sanji says.

“See you later.” Zoro answers and hangs up.

Zoro puts his phone down and unsheathes the sword completely. He settles himself and resolves to learn all of its mysteries.

 

He isn’t surprised when Sanji doesn’t call that night, he is however surprised when Sanji calls him at 10am that morning. He’s in the kitchen getting a drink rather than in the workshop for a change so, with a concerned frown, he picks up.

Sanji appears into view after a brief swirl of the loading symbol. However he is surrounded by drunk looking guys, leaning over Sanji. All of their faces light up with a triumphant shout of ‘yaaay!’ when Zoro picks up. One guy, a skinny brunette, throws himself into Sanji’s lap with his arms around his neck and leans forward into the camera. Sanji’s hands come up and grab the guy about the waist, steadying him there. Zoro grits his teeth and puts his glass down before he breaks it. He’s not a super possessive or jealous guy, he trusts Sanji too much for that, but seeing another guy with his ass ground into Sanji’s lap is something that irks him more than a little.

“It’s three in the fucking morning where you are, who are you idiots?” Zoro grinds out.

“You’re Zoro right? Sanji’s brother?” The brunette asks with wide eyes. Zoro scowls. Brother, huh?

“What do you want?” Zoro responds darkly.

“Wow Sanji, he is grumpy like you said!” A blonde guy chips in and Zoro glares harder, at least at his point Sanji’s head appears behind the view obscuring brunette.

“Shut the fuck up Audric!” Sanji hisses at him.

“You made Sanji’s knives right?” The brunette asks, ignoring the argument behind him.

“I did.” Zoro says stiffly as the blonde, Audric, leans in and pats at Sanji’s cheek with an affectionate if drunk laugh.

 _Get off my fucking boyfriend I’ll kick all of your asses._ Zoro mentally hisses. Was everyone like this in Paris? He’d heard it was the city of love but not of overly handsy bastards!

“Oh MAN! They’re AMAZING!” The brunette exclaims, jerking Sanji forward with his arm around his neck. Several other guys appear in the frame, making the camera bounce and jolt and Zoro realises with sick horror that they’re all crowded on Sanji’s _bed_. Zoro’s never even got on that bed with Sanji, no matter how much he’s wanted to, and here are these assholes in Sanji’s lap, touching Sanji’s face and clambered on his bed with him.

“You have to make me some!” The brunette exclaims.

Now _that_ gets Sanji’s attention, sitting up grabbing the guy by the forehead, shooting out a burst of French at him. Zoro doesn’t know what he’s saying but he knows that’s Sanji’s ‘fuck off and die’ tone of voice. One of the other guys laughs though, leaning down and rubbing his face in Sanji’s hair and tugging him back by his shoulder to laugh in his ear and say something in French. Zoro wants to kill him. They think that Zoro is his brother and they don’t know that Sanji is his and they’re touching him and he wants to hurt them, all of them.

“No.” Zoro answers flatly. The guy sprawled over Sanji’s lap pouts and Sanji is pulled out of view by the other two guys dragging him off of the bed with an alarmed yelp and then a groan from Sanji as he hits the floor. Zoro recognises Sanji’s Christmas socks in the air on the side of the camera.

“Please? I’ll pay you five thousand euro!” The guy offers.

“No.” Zoro repeats.

“Ten! Ten thousand.” The brunette says, hopefully.

“No.” He repeats.

Now the others chip in, shouting bids of higher and higher amounts which with a little mental calculation Zoro works out is higher than anything he’s ever been commissioned to make. The pause clearly makes them think that he’s considering it, all of their faces brighten and Sanji scrambles up to stare at him in shock over the brunette’s shoulder.

“You make them custom right? I’ve seen Sanji’s, how they fit his hands. I want some too, just for my hands alone!” the brunette exclaims.

“What?! No!” Sanji balks at him.

“How much would I have to pay you? I could get a loan, put it down as school expenses, or ask my parents for the money. I can pay.” The brunette says charmingly.

“No you can’t. I don’t do it for money.” Zoro says flatly. He made the knives for Sanji out of love. The ones he makes for money are totally different, so much so that it seems wrong to call both things knives.

“So you’ll do it for free then?” the brunette laughs.

“Fuck OFF! He’s not making any knives for any of you, he’s mine!” Sanji snarls and kicks the brunette right off of his bed.

“Aw, what? Sanji you can’t just hoard an artist like that, your knives are amazing, it’s not fair if we can’t all have some like that.” One of the guys says, Zoro thinks it’s the blonde.

“No! Absolutely not!” Sanji argues back and Zoro raises an eyebrow, now he might not be a possessive guy but Sanji… well, he remembers how Sanji was with Ace and that was long before they were ever together.

“But look how good they are, we should all-” One guy starts and Sanji actually yowls like a scalded cat, leaps clear over the bed and onto the floor on the other side. There’s a meaty sound and then a smash, like someone hitting a wall.

“DON’T TOUCH THOSE!” Sanji shrieks in rage and Zoro winces, this is not going to go well.

The room descends into chaos of shouted French but Zoro hears Sanji’s yelling loudest of all, crashing and then he sees Sanji appear in the edge of the shot of the abandoned laptop, his knife case clutched to his chest and kicking for the guy just in frame. After a few seconds he hears the sound of a door slam and then Sanji is back on his bed, alone.

Sanji is shaking, his arms wrapped around his case and his eyes wide.

“You’re not going to make knives for them! You can’t, not like mine, not like you did for my hands with all of your… I know what they meant to you!” Sanji blurts out, looking at Zoro with wide eyes.

“You’re jealous.” Zoro says slowly. It really does remind him of Sanji’s snit with Ace, he wonders if Sanji liked him even then, he’s never actually asked.

“Zoro!” Sanji pleads and Zoro relents.

“Of course I’d never make them knives like yours. No one gets knives like yours. You know what they mean.” Zoro says firmly and Sanji does, they’re a love letter, just like Franky said. Sanji clings a little to his case a little tighter but nods.

“So,” Zoro begins, arching an eyebrow as he starts talking again, “are all the guys in France friendly enough to crawl into your lap on your bed or is it just the ones that you hang out with?”

“Oh god, Borya isn’t even French, he’s Russian. And yeah, he’s as bad as Luffy with that shit, especially when he’s drunk. It was his birthday we were out tonight for.” Sanji groans, falling back on his bed with an overdramatic sigh that reminds Zoro of when Sanji was fifteen and everything was the _worst_ thing _ever_.

“And who’s jealous now?” Sanji suddenly says, his head jerking up and a devious grin spreading over his face.

“You’re drunk and it’s stupidly late where you are, go to sleep, you’ve got class later.” Zoro says evasively.

“Ah nuh nuh, you’re _jealous_!” Sanji says gleeful, leaning back over the laptop with drunk hazy eyes and a pink flush on his cheeks.

“I’ve got work to do, go to sleep cook.” Zoro says and hangs up.

Zoro taps his phone on his lip thoughtfully and catalogues Sanji’s outburst about the knives into his memory for later inspection. With that done he heads back towards the workshop with two bottles of water in hand. He drops one on his desk where Mihawk sits examining Zoro’s schematics for a new blade.

“You have terrible handwriting, and you were gone a long time.” Mihawk states. Zoro hums in agreement but doesn’t apologise. He doesn’t say sorry for things that he isn’t sorry for.


	7. Chapter 7

Sanji considers his ingredients, his class assignment is to create a beef dish but keep the flavour delicate while still using beef sirloin. Sanji bites his lip in thought, the others are doing all sorts of things with their meat, relying on light cooking and other ingredients to qualify as delicate. He wants to impress though, he's made it his mission to become the best chef that he can when he's away and to thoroughly blow Zoro with his improvement. Wait, blow him away. Yes, that was what he meant. 

Sanji shakes himself from his thoughts and flicks open his knife box. He knows what he wants to do to impress his teacher, skill, speed and grace are what he wants to specialize in here and Zoro's knives are the tools for his masterpiece. 

“Aaah, it's those knives again, they're so pretty!” One of the girls says wistfully, looking from her station and into Sanji's box that Zoro gave him with his most treasured possessions.

“But they're so sharp too, I want a set but his brother refuses to make me some, no matter how much I offered to pay him, it's not fair.” Borya grumbles. 

“Sorry.” Sanji shrugs, not sorry at all. He does feel regretful though, he'd blurted out that Zoro was his brother and now he can't tell them any differently. He wants to say that he's his boyfriend but he can't now. Even if they're only related on paper he can't see anyone approving of their relationship when they know that detail about them. 

He shoves his thoughts aside and grabs a lemon from the nearby bowl. He slices through it as easy as breathing with Zoro's knife in his hand so perfectly fitted that it's an extension of himself. Grabbing the two lemon halves he juices them and focuses on making his marinade with the olive oil as well. He rinses off his vegetable knife, dries it so it's spotless and replaces it in his case. When the marinade is complete and the parmesan cheese is shaved he turns to his raw meat. His hand hovers over the knife that Zoro designed especially for delicate work with meat, he'd watched how differently Sanji handled thick cuts of meat compared to fine work and made him two separate knives set to the task. 

With his fine meat knife he slices his beef to almost translucent thinness. He tastes a slice with his marinade and deems it perfect. He settles the slices artfully on the plate, drizzling his marinade over the meat and then delicately distributing the shaved parmesan on top of that. He washes his knife, dries it with care and settles it back in its case, clicking it shut as he does so. 

Sanji whirls around and saunters confidently up to his teacher, setting the plate of Carpaccio down before him with a flourish. His instructor's eyebrows raise, Sanji is by far the first one done, many of his fellow students aren't even done with their basic prep yet. He shuffles Sanji's paper out of the stack and makes notes on his presentation, what his is dish and moves over to the taste evaluation box. He sets his pen down and takes his knife and fork, cutting into the delicate meat with no resistance. He eats it and his eyes shut, he chews slowly and thoughtfully. He swallows before opening his eyes, making a few quick notes and then looking at Sanji. 

“Excellent texture and perfect thinness. I would suggest letting your sauce balance a little better with slightly more lemon, but other than that I have no criticisms, A.” His teacher says with a nod. 

Sanji beams and nods gracefully. He returns to his workstation and glances at his notebook. He will write up his results and observations to study later. Buuuuut he can do that later, if he gets back to his dorm soon then he will be able to catch Zoro on skype and any extra time with him is always welcome. He replaces his ingredients in the fridge secure in the knowledge that someone else will use what is left, nothing goes to waste at this school. He then fills his bag with everything else and slides his knife case in last with care. He waves his classmates goodbye and leaves calmly, only to give in and start rushing back to his temporary home with a grin. 

He bursts through his door, throws himself onto his bed, opens his laptop, boots up skype and calls Zoro all within thirty seconds. Zoro answers, looking a little surprised. 

“Isn't this early for you? You're not ditching class are you?” Zoro asks, raising an eyebrow. Sanji can tell from the quality that Zoro is on his phone. He moves for a moment but then he settles Sanji on something, putting Zoro out of shot until he crouches down and returns to what he was doing. If Sanji is right it's some kind of metal that Zoro is searching through or organizing. 

“Hello to you too, bastard. Don't they have manners where you are?” Sanji sneers, sliding his bag off of his shoulder.

“Well Mihawk is a mostly silent genius, Perona is irritating as all hell so... no.” Zoro shoots back with a grin. Sanji snickers and pulls his books out of his bags, setting them aside on his bed to fill in after he's done talking to Zoro and the class is still fresh in his mind. He took notes on the lecture before the class so he should really compose his thoughts before the whole thing before it fades from his brain. 

“Great. Well, I'm here when I'm not usually because I aced my class in record time and got back here to talk to you, you ungrateful ass.” Sanji points out. He's not actually pissed at Zoro, it's just fun to annoy him. 

“So you missed me then?” Zoro asks, pausing what he's doing and looking at Sanji with a smug and slightly feral grin. 

“Yeah, but my aim is getting better.” Sanji retorts and that makes Zoro laugh. Sanji considers that as him winning the argument. 

“What are you doing?” Sanji asks after a few moments of silence, craning his neck as if he could see beyond the borders of the screen by looking at it through a different angle. 

“Looking through all of these swords. Mihawk told me that one of these was a fake and it's going to take me forever to tell which one.” Zoro says with a sigh. 

“How is your training going?” Sanji asks him quietly. Zoro often sounds so frustrated and Sanji worries that maybe this wasn't the right choice for him. Just because Mihawk is a master doesn't mean that he's a good teacher.

“It's good. It's just... I'm learning a lot but I feel like I'm not getting any better and I think Mihawk might feel the same. Or at least he hasn't told me otherwise.” Zoro says quietly, looking up at the camera a little forlornly. 

“You'll get it, I believe in you, I know how good you are.” Sanji says firmly and sees the glow in Zoro's smile. 

“Have you got enough battery? I can study for a while if you're gonna be going through swords.” Sanji suggests. Now and then when they still went to school together they would study in silence, or sometimes Sanji would study cookbooks and Zoro would look over designs for things. They didn't do it much but it was always oddly peaceful. Zoro leans in and pokes the screen and squints at it, presumably checking his phone's stats. 

“Yeah, I've got enough.” Zoro nods and settles back down onto the floor, this time crosslegged rather than crouched. He picks another sword up and starts inspecting it as Sanji moves to his notebook and starts making his notes and reviewing his lecture notes and adding in things that he remembers now. After a while he shifts from that to planning his next essay, every so often the two of them talk about whatever crosses their minds. 

“Ah-hah, I think I've found it!” Zoro says in a pleased tone, holding a sword up before his eyes. 

“Your fake sword?” Sanji asks, putting his paper down. 

“Yeah, look. I don't know if you can see it but see how the shine is slightly blue near the edge of the blade, just like yours are. It's a fake.” Zoro says with a beaming smile.

“Hey! My knives aren't fake! They're the best!” Sanji insists, clutching his knife case to his chest. 

“No, dumbass. I made your knives recently, this sword was too. The blue tint is a modern thing, to do with the age of the metal and the- look it's just different to these seventeenth century ones, okay?” Zoro sighs, clearly giving up on the technical stuff just as much as Sanji would if he was trying to teach Zoro about melting sugar. He hugs his knife box a little closer though, they're still no fakes. 

“Yeah well mine-” Sanji frowns, the box in his arms feels uneven. 

“What the hell, have they moved?” Sanji mutters and puts the case down on his bed. 

“Has the case broken?” Zoro asks, lowering the sword and looking at the screen. Zoro made sure that the case was perfect for his knives when he gave them to him, it's not just Sanji who believes in the power of presentation. Each knife has its own perfectly sized and fitted slot in the case, they never move around and damage themselves or each other.

Sanji flicks the case open and the bottom drops out of his stomach, he thinks that he might be sick. Three of his knives, three of his gorgeous, perfect, beloved knives are GONE. His fine meat knife is missing, his paring knife and his fillet knife are entirely absent from their slots. Sanji knows that he washed and dried all of the knives that he used before putting them in his case, then he closed his case, handed in his dish and left with his things. He would never have forgotten them, and even if he did he never used his fillet knife in that dish. Someone stole them. Someone opened his case, stole his knives and shut it again. 

“Sanji, what's wrong? OI, SANJI!” Zoro calls, waving his hand in front of the camera to get Sanji's attention. 

“S-someone took... someone stole my knives.” Sanji chokes out and tilts up his knife case to show Zoro. Zoro has a shocked and horrified look on his face and Sanji wants to die. Zoro gave him those knives right before they admitted how they'd felt for each other after all of those years, right before they'd made love for the first time, they're not just special because Zoro made them for him but for what they represent. Now someone has taken them and Sanji can't cope. 

“Sanji-” Zoro starts but Sanji slams his laptop shut, grabs his keys and with his knife case clutched to his chest he runs back to campus. 

He screeches into his classroom but a different class is there, he begs the next teacher to let him search for his knifes, when the teacher sees the agony on his face he agrees. Sanji all but tears apart the area where he was working in and then puts it back hastily. None of his missing knives are there. 

He tracks down his teacher from that class and desperately asks him if he has his knives, if he somehow forgot them or if someone took them out and didn't put them back in between the time when Sanji closed the case and when he came back to it. It's possible that something like that happened and his teacher kept them for safekeeping. That's not the case though. His teacher doesn't have them but he says that he'll contact every student in the class to find out what happened and urge anyone who knows anything to come forward. 

Sanji goes to his friends who were in the class and sobs to them, shows them gaps where his knives were and cries, asking them to help him find them. He asks them to keep and eye out to see if they can see anyone using them. He goes to everyone that he can think of but no one has them, no one has seen them and no one knows what to do. Logically it must have been someone in his class who stole them but Sanji can't break into all of their dorms and search them. The thought that someone who studies with him, a fellow chef no less, could do something so terrible makes his heart ache. 

Worst of all though is the thought that he's lost something so precious to him. Zoro had seen that he'd lost them too. How can he face Zoro again knowing that? Something irreplaceable has gone and he feels like a part of his soul has gone with it.


	8. Chapter 8

It isn't unusual for Mihawk's student to keep odd hours, he seems to structure a lot of his day around calling his loved ones, something that Mihawk doesn't do but can respect. Zoro is a hard worker and he has talent but he rarely seems to use it to its fullest extent. Before he agreed to take Zoro on he had seen photos of Zoro's work, he had been sent swords that Zoro had made, his designs on paper. All of those and a recommendation from his last teacher were what made him take Zoro on. His talent and skill frustratingly seem to appear and disappear. Though his protégée is learning from the things that Mihawk is teaching him and he performs well at the tasks set Zoro still doesn't seem to be able to bring it all together reliably enough. All he can do is teach him more lessons and push him harder. 

Even so Zoro was in the workshop for six hours straight yesterday, still working when Mihawk went to bed and now he is in there again. He lingers at the door and quietly watches. The glow from the furnace and the smell of straw ash light and scent the room and he can see the figure of Zoro hammering on steel, his movements fluid and strong. 

“You know that he's not stopped all night, right?” Perona says from behind him. Mihawk doesn't jump, he knows Perona enough by now not to.

He hums in curiosity, that must be at least fourteen straight hours. His interest is throughly piqued now. 

“My room is almost right above this stupid workshop. I had to go sleep in his room to escape the noise, not that he was using it. He's not slept at all.” She complains.

He ignores her and makes his way into the workshop. He skirts around the equipment stations and goes to Zoro's desk. There are plans and blueprints, some of them old and some new. They look to be updated and improved versions of his older work. He can respect the drive to improve upon older work, but these are the blueprints that Zoro had sent to him as part of his portfolio to study with him. It's some of his best work, so why he would choose now of all times to repeat it is strange. Perhaps he's trying to recreate that feeling of skilled work so that he can apply it to new projects.

He makes his way to the grinding wheel and peers at the knife on the side there. The shape of it is very impressive and the thinness and sturdiness of the blade are excellent. He reaches out to turn it in the light, to get a better look at the edge but Zoro's voice stops him.

“Don't touch that!” Zoro barks out and Mihawk finds himself somewhat surprised, he's never had Zoro snap at him before. The young man has never got more than frustrated at his situation, but even then that's never been at Mihawk himself. Curious.

“It's good work.” He says, aware that it's the first real compliment that he's paid his young apprentice. He knows that if he doles out praise too easily then there is a possibility that Zoro could stop striving so hard. He doesn't know how likely that is with Zoro's personality but he's not taking the risk. Surprisingly Zoro barely reacts to the praise.

“It has to be better than good, it needs to be better than anything else I've ever done. He needs it.” Zoro says fiercely and slams his hammer down again.

“He?” Mihawk asks with a raise of his eyebrow. 

“Sanji.” Zoro responds distractedly and turns the knife over, staring at in the glow of the forge. He pauses before hammering a few more times, lighter this time, just perfecting a detail. With whatever imperfection that he'd seen gone he puts it in the straw ash to cool it slowly. Zoro straightens up and blinks wearily at him. 

“Sanji is...?” Mihawk prompts and he wonders if Zoro is too tired for this work, but he's not Zoro's father and he won't tell his student how to run his work and his schedule. If Zoro needs to learn to balance his working time then that's a lesson that he has to learn on his own. 

“Sanji is Zoro's boyfriend.” Perona chirps from the door and Zoro glares weakly at her. 

“Who was talking to you?” Zoro says to her irritably, his sweat and soot smeared brow wrinkling in displeasure and leaving stripes of colour and voids without it on his forehead.

“He's a cook then?” he concludes, looking at the blades. They're absolutely kitchen knives if the one that is by the grinding wheel is any indication.

“Chef. Not a cook.” Zoro corrects him a little sharply. Mihawk isn't sure that he knows the difference but evidently it's an important point.

“Sorry, I shouldn't have-” Zoro starts to apologise, clearly realizing his tone.

“It's fine. Why are you making them?” He asks Zoro instead. Before now Zoro had been focused on his assignments or picking apart what he thought he should be studying. He has never gone off on his own quite like this before, it's interesting and is the first real delivery on the promise that Zoro showed when he took his student on. He wants to know what it is about these knives and what it is about his student's relationship that has made him change like this. 

“That last knives that I made for him were... special. They were the best things that I'd ever made and they were just for him. He's in France in the best culinary school in the world, he's going to be even better than he already is and he had the knives that I made for him there with him.” Zoro explains quietly and glances at the cooling knife in the ash, it's not cool enough yet so Zoro keeps talking. 

“One of his classmates stole several of them.” Zoro spits furiously. 

“And he asked you for more?” Mihawk asks. If it's just a commission then that's a disappointing motivation for Zoro to improve so much. 

“No. He didn't have to. It's not about making more anyway.” Zoro answers with a shake of his head. 

“The knives themselves as just blades can be replaced. I could make exact copies, I still have all of my notes and up to date measurements of his hands. But I can't replace what they meant, I gave them to him and it was... it was meaningful.” Zoro says carefully and doesn't meet Mihawk's eyes. Interesting, but he doesn't care to speculate on that bit of information. 

“I can't replace that. I need to make entirely new ones, knives with new meaning and... I don't know. Better. If I could find the asshole who stole them I'd cut him in half with one of my swords, the one with the dullest blade I could find, I'd make sure it'd really hurt. I can't do that though, I'm half a world away, but I can do this. I can do this for him, make something new that's better than anything else. I can show him how important this is with what I can make him, that can last longer than any words I could give him or simple replacements. I can do that and I'm damn well going to do it as best as I can.” He declares with fire in his eyes, right there, that level of intensity and drive is what Zoro needs to learn to put into his work. Mihawk is impressed and for the first time Zoro reminds him of himself when he was younger. 

“Hold on to that feeling, you're making progress. If you don't mind, I'd like to see these knives of yours before you send them off to your... to him.” Mihawk says, hedging his way around the word boyfriend. It seems to childish and Zoro isn't a child, but partner seems too formal. Mihawk has never been good with people. 

“Yeah, okay.” Zoro nods tiredly and looks around. He hears Zoro make a noise of consideration as he looks at the knife still cooling in the ash and then around at the rest of his work. 

“I should sleep, I want to make them all now when the I have it in my head but really these can cool when I'm sleeping. I can't make him what he deserves if I'm half dead.” Zoro says reluctantly and Mihawk's mouth twitches in amusement. His student is learning. Zoro leaves the room with a deep yawn and stumbles off down the hallway. 

“Oh so now he chooses to go to sleep, now that it's a stupid hour of the day. That selfish idiot.” Perona huffs indignantly, her cheeks puffing out with irritation. 

“Be quiet.” He orders her, knowing full well that it will fall on deaf ears but he lives in hope that one of these days she might listen to him.


End file.
